~California~
Kelso sat there shaking his leg impatiently, waiting for Annette who was at the snack bar. Meanwhile Donna was pouting about missing Eric.
"Donna, you gotta stop crying about Eric, and move on," Kelso insisted.
"I can't, I made a huge mistake dating Casey. What the hell was I thinking! Maybe I should have accepted the promise ring."
"Ok, now you're just talking crazy!" Kelso yelled "You not accepting the ring wasn't a bad choice. Think about it. If did accept his ring, you would have been living a lie"
"A lie?" Donna asked, perplexed "What do you mean by a lie?"
"Donna, there was a reason why you gave Eric back the ring. You see, you have these dreams about traveling the world, going to college, being an independent woman" Kelso babbled on "You would have been miserable if you ended up marrying Eric."
Donna took in what Kelso had just said to her. She knew what he said was true. Donna didn't want to get married right out of high school. She wanted something completely different. But still it was hard for her to admit.
"You know what Kelso? That might have been the smartest thing you have ever said."
"Hey, I keep telling you guys how smart I am, but do any of you believe me? No!" Kelso dramatically waved his hands in the air.
"But even if you weren't meant to be, I can't help but still love him."
"That's because you haven't met anyone since we got here. Donna, we're in California! The state with the best looking people. Donna, it's time! To quit crying and start doing it!" Kelso encouraged "Preferably with me."
Donna's eyes nearly rolled back into her head. "Yeah, I retract my statement about you being smart."
"What do you think Eric and Jackie are doing now that we're gone?"
"I don't know about Eric, but I know Jackie is heartbroken over me, poor kid."
"Yeah, sure" Donna heavily sighed." Speaking of Jackie, what are you going to say to her when we go home?"
"Oh, I'm not going back." Kelso said.
"Kelso, what the hell are you talking about?"
"Donna, I can't go back now. I have Annette." Kelso explained.
"Seriously?" Donna scoffed. "You're staying, because of some hookup?"
"Annette isn't some ''hookup" I think I might actually love her."
"You don't love her, you moron. You just want to have sex with her." Donna stated.
"Hey! who say's you can't have sex, and love someone at the same time?"
"So, what are you going to do? You haven't finished high school yet. Are you really about to give up your education, over a girl you might get to sleep with?"
"That's a risk I'm willing to take," Kelso said, eyeing Anette who was at the counter ordering food.
"Hey, you guys" Annette happily greeted them. With a tray of food in her hand.
"Hey baby" Kelso replied "What took you so long?"
"Sorry, the idiot at the counter didn't know what he was doing," Annette answered.
"Hey, what can you do?"Kelso leaned in to kiss Annette.
Donna turned her head away from the scene that played out in front of her. God, why didn't she just take a bus?
"Hey Kelso, what about Jackie?" Donna suddenly announced.
Fear and shock crossed Kelso's face, upon hearing the name of his now ex-girlfriend.
"Who's Jackie?" Annette pulled away from Kelso's grasp.
"Uh," Kelso looked around the room, trying to think of a good answer. "Um, my dog."
"Your dog?"
"Yeah, my dog. Her name was Jackie." Kelso lied.
"Was?" Annette knitted her eyebrows.
"Yeah, she died. Got hit by a car." Kelso spoke in a sad voice.
"Oh, you poor thing." Annette spoke with sympathy.
Donna shook her head in disbelief. She knew Annette wasn't the sharpest tool in the shed, but she surely couldn't be this stupid.
"Jackie's not a dog. Jackie's his girlfriend." The redhead revealed.
"Oh!" Kelso gasped.
"Girlfriend." Annette growled. "You told me I was the only one."
"You are, baby, trust me." Kelso rubbed her arm, reassuringly.
"Yeah, right!" Annette ripped her arm out of his grip.
Kelso continued to try to convince Annette that she was the only woman in his life, but with no avail.
"Donna, you suck!" Kelso hissed.
"My work here is done." Donna got up from the table with a big smile on her lips.
But the smug smile eventually faded, when Donna realized that she had nobody else to hang out with. She was stuck with Kelso. Damn. Maybe leaving the point place was a bad idea. She wondered what her friends back home were doing right now. Probably having a lot more fun than she was right now.
~Line break~
"Well, that's just freaking fantastic!" Jackie said in her typical shrill voice.
"Will you please be quiet?" Hyde snapped.
The night was going great. The guys had their fake IDs, They picked up Jackie. And the ride to Milwaukee went smoothly. Everything was going completely fine. But then bam! Everything fell apart. The bouncer didn't even look at the ID's, he just took one glance at the four teens standing in front of them, and knew they were underage.
The night was officially ruined. Now the gang was sitting back in the El Camino, they previously spent two hours just to get to Milwaukee.
Jackie's face went red with anger. "Be quiet? No I will not! Do you know how long it took me to do my hair and makeup? You know this just doesn't come naturally." She pointed to her face.
"And yet, you still look 12. That's probably how security knew we were underage." Hyde argued.
"Oh! This is my fault?" Jackie gasps.
"Yep, that's exactly what I'm saying." Hyde turned to Eric. "I told you we shouldn't have brought her."
Eric rolled his eyes. "Come on Hyde, You can't completely blame Jackie."
"You know what? You're right. I blame you too." Hyde said.
"Great, what did I do?"
"Like, Jackie. You don't look a day over 12 either." Hyde answered.
Slightly offended by his friend's statement, Eric knew it would be pointless to argue with the curly-haired boy.
"Now those poor lady's won't get any of Fez's love." Fez pouted. "I went through the trouble to write pick up lines." Fez lifted up his hand.
"Dude you wrote it on your hand?" Eric asked.
"Why of course, I would just look silly if I wrote it down on paper." Fez answered.
"Ugh! Will everyone just shut up?" Jackie groaned "God, you all are giving me a headache."
"You could always walk home if you wanted." Hyde said.
Jackie's eyes shot daggers Hyde, quite frankly she was just about ready to rip his head off.
Jackie sat up in her seat about to tell off Hyde. But Eric quickly interrupted her.
"Guy's Guy's. Please, can we just settle down? "Eric spoke in a soothing voice "Yeah, it's been a shit night. But it's only going to get worse if we keep yelling at each other."
"What are you, some sort of peacemaker?" Hyde sassed.
"Leave him alone." Jackie said.
"Yes, Hyde please. Eric is right." Fez agreed.
Hyde let out a deep sigh. How did he get stuck with these bands of losers?
Eventually the four teens stopped arguing and calmed down. Once again things were going smoothly, something went wrong again. The engine started to make weird noises, leading to the car making a complete stop.
"What the hell man?" Hyde frowned.
"What's going on? Why are we stopping?" Jackie's eyes went wide with dread.
"No, no,no," Hyde said to himself, smacking the steering wheel.
"ugh Hyde, I think something's wrong with your engine," Eric said.
If looks could kill Eric would have been dead.
"No shit, Forman." Hyde growled.
"Oh, no! We're stranded in the middle of nowhere!" Fez cried.
Hyde opened the door, slipping off the driver's seat to open up the hood of the El Camino. His face was instantly met with smoke.
The rest of the gang got out of the car to see what was going on.
"We'll have to find a mechanic." Eric said.
"How!" Jackie squealed, flailing her arms "We're in the middle of nowhere. Not to mention, it's pitch black out here."
"We're all going to die out!" Fez said.
"No one's dying, alright. We've been in these types of situations before." Hyde reminded his friends. "Jackie's ski cabin, when the Cruiser car battery died."
"Ok, let's just think, here for a minute." Eric rubbed his eyes in frustration. "Me and Hyde will look for a mechanic, Jackie and Fez you stay here and watch the car."
Fear crossed Jackie's face "What no! You can't leave us here all alone. What if something happens to us, heck! What if something happens to you and Hyde?"
"Jackie it's not like there are any psychopaths on the loose." Eric chuckled.
"You don't know that."
"Don't worry, with a screechy voice like yours, we'll know if there's a murderer on the loose." Hyde insulted.
"Just stay in the car, lock the doors, and you'll be fine." Eric gently patted Jackie on the shoulder.
"Ok, but If I die tonight, Just know, I'm going to haunt your scrawny ass." Jackie threatened.
"Being haunted by Jackie? Man, I wouldn't wish that on my worst enemy." Hyde shuddered. Come on man. Let's go."
Line break
"It's been 30 minutes, shouldn't they be back by now?" Jackie says,worry evident in her voice.
"Relex little girl. I'm sure they'll be back any second."
"Are you seriously telling me to relax? Weren't you the one you said we're gonna die?"
"I may have overreacted just a tiny bit." Fez admitted.
"Yeah, sure." Jackie huffed, leaning her back against the car seat.
Fez started to shift around, sticking his hands in his pockets.
"'What are you looking for?" Jackie asked.
"Candy." Fez stated.
"Candy?" Jackie repeated.
"Yes, I brought some with me."
"Why?"
"Because, you never know when you'll find yourself in a sticky situation." Fez replied.
"Would you like one?" Fez asked sweetly.
Though Jackie was slightly disgusted, she hadn't eaten anything all day and she was hungry.
"Just give it to me." Jackie snatched the Reese cup from Fez's hands.
A knock at the window made Jackie nearly jump out of her skin.
Putting her hand over her chest. Opening the car door. "There you guys are. What the hell took you so long?"
Despite it being pitch black out, Eric could see the pissed off expression on the tiny brunette's face. However, Eric couldn't take her seriously because the humidity made her hair all frizzy.
"We couldn't find a mechanic." Eric said.
"It looks like we're going to have to wait for help." Hyde grunted.
"Help?" Jackie put her hands on her hips "There hasn't been a single car that's driven by."
Right now, at this moment, Jackie had wished she ran away with Donna. If she had; Jackie would probably be at a beach party, with lots of cute boys that would admire her beauty. But no, she was stuck in the middle of some dirt road.
"Great, so we're really stuck in the middle of nowhere." Jackie started pacing back and forth.
"How far are we from home?" Eric asked.
"Driving time? I'd say about a half hour." Hyde answered.
"What about walking time?" Eric asked again.
"What a second. You're not actually suggesting that we walk home are you?" Jackie crossed her arms.
"We could." Eric suggested.
"That would take literally forever." Jackie whined. "And there's no way I can walk that long in these heels."
"I could carry you, if you wanted." Fez offered.
Jackie gave Fez a death glare making him quickly back away.
"Well, I don't know what to tell you,Jackie. We either wait for help or we walk." Eric said.
"Fine! We'll wait for another hour, and if no one comes to our rescue, we can walk." Jackie gave in.
Just like Jackie initially thought, no one came. Shit; it looks like she would have to walk home. But who knows maybe she'll get lucky and a serial killer will put her out of her misery.
"Come on, let's go." Jackie huffed as she began to reluctantly move her feet.
The other three teens followed Jackie; During the walk home, no one said a word to each other.
All of a sudden the sound of an engine alerted the ears of the hot, tired and sweaty gang.
"Hey look, it's a car! We're saved" Fez shouted in excitement.
"You kids need a ride?" scruffy older man, who looked about to be in his mid 50s. Asked, rolling down his window.
"Yeah that would be great." Eric said.
Hyde and Fez hopped into the stranger's van. Eric was the next, but Jackie grabbed his shoulder.
Eric turned his head to Jackie "What?"
"Eric, I don't want to get in that redneck's van." Jackie whispered.
"Jackie, now is not the time to be a princess."
"I'm not trying to be. But he looks creepy."
"I can hear you." The driver spoke.
"Jackie, come on, please." Eric begged.
Jackie let out a breathy sigh. "Whatever." She rolled her eyes, pushing Eric out of her way, into the van.
"Alright y'all ready? "
Jackie,Hyde, Fez and Eric, all nodded in agreement.
"Where are we headed?"
"Point Place, sir." Eric answered.
"Point place? That's about a 30 minute drive from here. Man It's a good thing I caught you. My name's Charlie by the way."
"Well, thank you for the ride man. It truly means a lot." Eric said.
"I'm guessing your car broke down?"
"You'd be right." Hyde grumbled.
"What happened? Ran out of gas? Charlie asked.
"Naw man, it's the engine." Hyde replied.
"Oh, so where were y'all coming from anyways?"
"Milwaukee." Eric said.
"Milwaukee? What the hell were you youngins doing in Milwaukee? Going to a concert?"
Neither Jackie, Hyde, Fez or Eric said anything. They had already had their argument about the whole situation. They didn't want to get into it again.
"Hello? Anyone going to answer me?"
Eric looked around at his friends, it didn't look like they were going to answer the question. So Eric decided he would take the lead.
"We were going to a nightclub." Eric admitted.
"Nightclub?" Charlie laughed. "Let me guess, security took one look at y'all and knew you were underage?"
"Me? No. But someone here still looks about 12." Hyde pointed to Jackie.
"Very funny." Jackie squinted at Hyde.
"Are you sure you ain't talking about yourself boy?" Charlie snickered.
Jackie gave Hyde a smug smile.
Hyde groaned and rolled his eyes. Kill him now.
Line break
After a long, stressful night, the gang finally arrived home. Eric had offered Charlie some cash for being kind enough to drive him and his friends home. But Charlie rejected, saying "Do me a favor, kid, and never get yourself in this kind of situation again."
"Sorry, I can't make any promises." Eric said.
"Alright then, You have a nice rest of the night."
"Thanks. You too." Eric waved as Charlie drove away.
Line Break
Forman's basement.
"What a night, I'm going to bed." Hyde announced.
"Alright, see in the morning." Eric said.
"Aye, Hyde is right. I'm exhausted." Fez yawned. "I must be going home now."
"See you later, man." Eric said.
Now it was just Eric and Jackie sitting on the couch.
"I guess I should be heading to bed too."
"Eric. Would it be alright if I stayed here a little longer?" Jackie asked.
Eric knitted his eyebrows together. "Umm, sure, If you want. Just don't make too much noise. Don't wanna disturb curly cue over there."
"Jackie giggled. "Don't worry, I'll be quiet as a mouse."
"Jackie Burkhart, quiet? I don't think so." Eric smirked.
"Hey! I can be quiet when I want to be." Jackie defended herself.
"Ok, ok. But seriously, be quiet when you leave. Wouldn't want Red and Kitty catching you."
When walking to his bedroom. Eric couldn't shake off this weird feeling he had.
Inside Eric's gut he knew something was wrong. Why would Jackie want to stay in his smelly old basement by herself? And isn't she worried about her parents being pissed at her for coming home late? Eric shook his head. Maybe he's over thinking this. Nothing weird is going on with Jackie.