Eric Forman awoke from his sleep when his alarm went off; the gloomy 17 year old reluctantly rolled over to his side to turn it off. Eric lay back down on his bed, looking up at his ceiling. He didn't want to get up and face the day. Not after the events of last night; Donna wanted to get back together with him and he said no. That should have been that, but no, Red and kitty practically scolded him the entire night. Just because he made a decision that they didn't approve of.

Eric let out a scoff. His dad always complains about how Eric needs to "be a man" but as soon as Eric thinks for himself and does what he wants, Red gives him shit for it. God, how hypocritical could the man be? This doesn't surprise Eric though, his dad will always find something wrong with him. This saddened Eric, for once in life he just wanted his dad to be proud of him.

The sound of Eric's door opening made him sit up. Before looking to see who it was, he closed his and let out a little prayer that it was Hyde and not anyone else. "Oh, thank God." Eric whispered under his breath. When he saw that it was Hyde.

"Hey man, are you coming downstairs for breakfast?" Hyde asked, still wearing his pajamas.

Eric let out a groan. "why?" Eric sneered. "so they can ridicule me about rejecting Donna?" Eric didn't mean to sound rude, especially towards Hyde. It's not his fault Eric's life completely sucks right now.

"So, is that a no?" Hyde asked.

Eric glared at Hyde."Yes, that's a no."

"Alright then. Hyde said, putting both his hands up "But Forman, you're going to have to face your parents eventually.' He said leaving Eric's bedroom.

Eric knew Hyde was right. But he wasn't going to now, nor did Eric plan to anytime soon. He would just have to come up with things to do this summer to avoid his dad as much as possible.

~Cut to the kitchen~

Meanwhile, downstairs in the Forman kitchen, Kitty, Red and Hyde were eating their breakfast. While Hyde kept quiet, enjoying the meal served to him. Kitty and Red wouldn't stop gossiping about their son.

"I just don't get it." Kitty cried out. "How could Eric do that."

"Because he's a dumbass, that's why." Red interjected. "Who does that boy think he is? Rejecting that girl" Red fumed, taking a bite of his bacon.

"If he doesn't get back with Donna, then who will he be with?" Kitty said frantically. Kitty didn't like to think about it, but she worried if Eric would be single for the rest of his life. And that meant no grandchildren and Kitty just couldn't have that.

"Now let's not worry about that." Red said, wiping his mouth with a napkin. "He'll come to his senses eventually, when he realizes no one will have him."

"Look, with all due respect, I think you guys are over reacting." Hyde chimed in.

"Oh, are we now." Kitty snapped. "Bob called me last night and said Donna cried herself to sleep"

Hyde, in return, looked down at the table. He felt bad for Donna; he did. But If Eric doesn't want to be with her anymore, he shouldn't be forced out of guilt. Not only that, but what would even be the point of Eric and Donna getting back together? Donna made it perfectly clear she didn't want to be tied down in a marriage. Did she change her mind?

"And now the dumbass even won't face us. You want to know why" Red pointed his finger at Hyde. "Because he knows what he did was wrong."

Hyde, now irritated he knew he had to get out of there before he said anything he regretted. He excused himself from the table and went down the basement. When he got down there, he saw Eric sitting on the couch with his Arms crossed, watching tv.

Hyde went to sit down in his chair. As he sat down, Eric didn't say a word to him, he didn't even acknowledge him. "Hey, Forman."

Eric, jumped a little startled by Hyde's voice. "Hey."

"So, What are we watching? Hyde asked, trying to get a conversation going.

"Scooby Doo." Eric answered.

"Cool" Hyde nodded.

Hyde tried a few more times to get Eric to talk, but all his attempts failed. Hyde eventually gave up and just sat in silence with Eric, watching tv. The two teenagers sat there, not saying a word to each other, for what felt like hours.

"I know it's pointless to ask, but what were parents saying about me?" Eric asked, breaking the silence.

"Why do you assume they were talking about you? No offense Forman you're not that exciting. Hyde smirked.

"Ha Ha, you're so funny." Eric said with sarcasm "But really, what did they say?"

Hyde looked down at his lap and sighed. "Look, man, why do you even want to know? I bet you can already guess they weren't saying kind things about you."

"I don't care. I want to know exactly what they said." Eric demanded.

"Ok, fine." Hyde gave in. "Kitty and Red think you're a complete and total dumbass and that you'll die alone because no one else will have you. Are you happy now?"

No Eric wasn't happy. Did his parents really think that low of their own son? Did Red and Kitty really believe Eric wasn't good enough to get another girlfriend?

"They said that?" Eric asked, hurt.

"Now don't get all emotional on me, Forman. You brought this on yourself."

"I can't believe them. All this because I didn't take back Donna."

"Yep, sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but your summer is going to totally suck."

Eric glared at Hyde. "Wow, thanks for the support Hyde, it sure means a lot. Eric said sarcastically.

"Hey, don't get an attitude with me, I defend you up there."

"You did?"

Hyde nodded.

Eric smiled, putting his hand on Hyde's shoulder. "Thanks man."

"Alright, what did I just say about getting emotional on me." Hyde said, removing Eric's hand from his shoulder.

You're right sorry." Eric apologized.

The two teens fell into a comfortable silence, continuing watching bad reruns of Scooby Doo until they heard Kitty let out a squeal.

Both boys jump, looking at each other, wondering what could be wrong. Their question was soon answered when Kitty came running down the basement steps, she had her hand on her chest, nearly out of breath.

Eric went over to his mom, he put his hand on her shoulder in concern. "What is it mom?" Eric asked, panicked.

When Kitty finally caught her breath she began to speak. "Donna" Kitty gasped

Eric now was really panicking. "What about Donna?"

"She ran away to California to live with Midge." Kitty answered.

Eric was too shocked to say anything, Let Hyde be the one to speak. "Well, at least she's with her mom." Hyde reassured.

Kitty shook her head." No, you don't get it. "Michael is the one driving her there" Kitty gulped.

Eric opened his mouth in shock; he couldn't believe that Donna would do that. Was she really that hurt over him rejecting her? Eric began to walk back to the couch as he sat down and buried his face in his hands. Great, now this was more reason for his mom and dad to make his summer miserable as possible.

"Well are you happy now, you drove Donna away." Red bellowed.

Eric took face out of his hands, to see his seething father at the bottom of the steps. Eric winced at the sight.

"How was I supposed to know she would do that?" Eric defended himself.

"Well, she did, and you better fix it." Red barked.

Eric looked down at the floor. Couldn't he just catch a break already.

"How?" Eric yelled, standing up "By giving in and getting back together with Donna. Being her rebound? No thanks."

Red walked to Eric, now face to face. "Listen, here boy, you had a good thing going with Donna and I'm not gonna let you ruin it."

"Well, that's just too bad, because it's not really your decision." Eric said not backing down.

Kitty could tell her husband was about to lose it. She then put her hands up to Red's chest, blocking him from her son "Alright, let's all just calm down. We'll just talk about this later."

As Kitty and Red began to walk up the steps, Red stopped midway and pointed his finger at Eric. "This isn't over." Kitty scolded her husband while leading him back up the steps.

Just as Eric thought he could finally relax, he heard a shrill cry come through the door that could only belong to Jackie Burkhart. "Oh come on." Eric grunted. "Why can't I just catch a break."

"You guys aren't going to believe what Michael has done now." Jackie sobbed, looking at both Eric and Hyde.

Eric took a look at Jackie; she honestly looked a mess. Her hair was disheveled and her eyes were red and puffy from crying. Looks like she got the big news.

"Let me guess, he left for California with Donna." Eric said.

Jackie sat down next to Eric, still crying. "Yes." Jackie wiped her now sore eyes. "The idiot didn't even have the courage to break off our engagement to my face. I had to find out through Bob."

Eric's eyes went wide when Jackie mentioned the word "engagement" where the hell has he been? Kelso never said anything to him about marrying Jackie. "Wait, what. When did he propose to you?"

"Well, he didn't exactly propose to me. I'm the one that suggested it and he agreed." Jackie confessed.

It's all coming together now, Kelso is driving Donna to California to get away from Jackie, and to get out of the engagement.

"How could he do that? Jackie continued to cry. "After all that we have been through."

Eric had no idea what to say. He felt bad for Jackie, but at the same time he didn't. What did she expect? It's Kelso. Everybody knows the boy isn't known for keeping his word. Did Jackie forget about the time when Kelso said he was going to pay for their expensive dinner, but it was really a ploy to get the rest of the gang to dine and dash.

"Why are you shocked? It's Kelso." Hyde said bluntly.

Jackie, in return, gave Hyde a dirty look. "See this why you don't have a girlfriend. You're the most insensitive person I've ever met."

"Guilty" Hyde acknowledged. "Now as much as I would like to stick around and chat, I gotta go to work."

Hyde got up from his chair, walking out the door, leaving the two miserable teenagers alone in silence. At first, neither Jackie nor Eric said anything to each other. But Jackie, being Jackie, she just couldn't keep her mouth shut for five minutes.

"What the hell is wrong with me?" Jackie spoke in a wobbly voice "I'm such a good girlfriend to Michael. I've always forgiven him for cheating on me, lying to me. Oh and that time when he burned my house. What more could I have done for him?"

Eric tried to ignore the hysterical girl crying in his basement. But it didn't seem like she was going anywhere anytime soon. So Eric just gave up, he thought maybe if he talks to her, she'll eventually go away. It's a fat chance, but it's worth a try.

"you didn't do anything wrong. ok. Kelso's a jerk. You should be happy he left, you dodged a real bullet."

"I must have done something!" Jackie cried. "Or he wouldn't have left like that."

"Jackie, like I said before, you didn't do anything wrong. This is the same guy who still plays on the monkey bars. Did you really think he was ready for marriage?"

"Maybe us getting married would have grown Michael up." Jackie sniffled.

Jackie didn't know if she was trying to convince Eric or herself. But deep down, Jackie knew that wasn't true. If she and Michael had gotten married, it would have been a total disaster. She just wasn't ready to admit to it yet.

"Come on, Jackie, you know that's not true. I'm not trying to sound harsh, but even if you two did get married, he would have eventually cheated on you."

"Oh, what do you know. You can't even keep a girlfriend." Jackie said bitterly

"Uh, Jackie, you are aware that I was the one who broke up with Donna, right?"

Jackie didn't respond; she just glared at Eric and rolled her eyes. "How do you feel about Donna leaving anyways?" Jackie asked.

"Honestly, relieved." Eric admitted.

"What?" Jackie furrowed her eyebrows confused. "I thought you wanted to get back together. You were so jealous of Casey. What changed?"

"Me being her second choice, that's what changed. The second Casey dumps her, she expects me to just take her back with open arms." Eric ranted.

Jackie was a bit taken aback by Eric's statement. When Casey broke up with Donna, she did expect Eric to take her back: Everyone did. Something was different about Eric; he seemed more confident than usual.

"So you and Donna are officially over and done with?" Jackie questioned.

"Yep." Eric said, popping the "p"

"Wow." Jackie let out a breathy voice. "I wish I could get over Michael that easy, like you can with Donna."

"Trust me you will." Eric reassured Jackie. "Given it's Kelso you're trying to get over, it won't be long."

Jackie wanted to say something snarky to Eric, but she knew he was right. Why did he have to be right? Why did Michael take off? Why did she always forgive him, no matter what he's done? Jackie didn't know, but this was the last straw. There was no way Jackie would ever take back Michael after this. No matter how much he apologized. Jackie was done.

"Even if I do get over Michael. I don't think I'll get over the humiliation of him breaking off our engagement and running off with Donna to California."

Eric gave Jackie a sympathetic look. "I know what you mean: When Donna gave me back my promise ring. It hurt like hell, not only that, but I also felt embarrassed. Having to tell everybody what happened was the worst of it."

"You're not kidding, I'm dreading it when I have to tell the cheer squad about what happened. I can picture it now, those bitches snickering and talking about me when I'm not looking." Jackie huffed.

"Pay no attention to them. If they want to gossip about you, then so be it. It just goes to show how boring their lives are that they have to kick someone when they're down."

Jackie smiled. she couldn't believe Eric was being nice to her. In the past, Jackie hasn't been the nicest to him: From mocking him for being too skinny all of the time, to making fun of him for being a geek. So this made her curious about why Eric is trying his best to comfort her.

"Eric." Jackie muttered.

Eric turned to Jackie " Yeah?"

Jackie looked down at her lap, then back at Eric. "Why are you being so nice to me?"

"Why wouldn't I?" Eric said. "I know we kind of hate each other, and yeah, I find you annoying, but I don't want to make you feel worse than you already do."

"So you wouldn't mind then if I stayed here for a little while? I know we are not the best of friends, but I really don't think I can be alone right now." Jackie asked.

Eric couldn't say no to those big, sad eyes; while he isn't very fond of Jackie all that much, he didn't want to be alone, either. So even though he would never dare admit it, he didn't think hanging out with Jackie would be so bad, considering all things.

Eric shook his "Yeah,sure, I don't mind."

"Good." Jackie smiled.