a/n: special thanks to everyone F4F and Luci for the beta.

Chapter 6: The Boys

God, I hate her.

That's all Eric Forman could think as Jackie sat in front of him, staring off into space. Kelso was in the middle of a story about some chick he almost hooked up with and Eric was awfully bored. He couldn't concentrate when she was so close. Her lips alone were distracting. He had noticed the lip gloss this morning, but he refused to acknowledge it publicly. He didn't want to embarrass the girl, after all, he was the reason she was wearing lip gloss. Hell, she was practically throwing herself all over him these past couple of weeks. Ever since he found her in the basement kissing Steven…

Eric shuddered the thought away from his brain.

Donna looked up at him softly, smiling brightly.

"Everything ok?" She mouthed, as Jackie seemed to snap out of her daze.

"Everything's great, babe." Eric whispered into her ear.

He liked Donna, he really did. She was hot, sweet, and most of all, hot. But she wasn't Jackie. Jackie had this thing about her and Eric hated the fact that he was still craving whatever it was. He shook his head once more, jumping up excitedly.

"Who's ready for another ride?" Eric asked excitedly.

Donna, Kelso, and Fez jumped up, nodding their heads in agreement.

Jackie inched further away from Steven, who was sitting right beside her, a smug smile on his face.

Eric felt his fist clench up in anger.

He loved how they acted like nothing was going on, when it was certainly clear that something was. Eric, when forced to think about it, imagined that the two had been seeing each for quite some time. They were probably having sex for months, in her bedroom, right beneath his very own. He could have sworn he had noises coming from downstairs. Sex noises. Who else could have been making those noises?

"Are you two coming?" Eric asked angrily, wrapping his arm around Donna.

He made sure his arm was permanently attached to the redhead, since it seemed to bother Jackie a whole lot. Jackie looked up, struggling to smile. Poor girl, she was so hung up over him.

"I'm not feeling so great." Jackie replied lamely, taking a sip of Fez's soda. "You guys go on ahead."

Steven looked up at Eric as well, that smile still plastered on his lips, "Yeah, we'll catch up with you later."

We? Since when did they become a 'we'?

It was becoming too much for Eric, his anger was spreading and it was aimed at Steven.

"Eric, let's go…" Donna interrupted his thoughts, pulling at him.

Eric took a deep breath, watching as Jackie and Steven smiled towards each other, almost as if they were sharing some big secret.

But the fact that they were screwing each other was no secret.

It was obvious that Jackie had slept with Steven, a while back.

He had become entranced by her, when before, he always publicly denounced her. His skin glowed for weeks, whenever she was around. Heck, even at the mention of her name, he was drooling like a puppy.

It made Eric sick.

"Eric, are you sure you're alright?" Donna asked again as they reached a nearby roller coaster.

"Does Jackie like Steven?" Eric asked quickly, not even sure why he would ask Donna this question, of all people.

"No," Donna giggled, "She likes someone else."

Eric felt a shine of hope as he sat in the roller coaster, withdrawing his arm from Donna.

Maybe he still had a chance.

Maybe that someone else was him.

What was he saying? Of course it was.

No one can resist Eric Forman. He was going to be quarterback, for Christ sakes.

"I thought you got over your fear of heights." Steven whispered to Jackie as Eric hovered over them, his ears practically fuming with steam.

Eric turned with Donna as she dragged him away.

Steven sighed guiltily. Eric was supposed to be his friend and he knew Eric was in love with Jackie. But, the thing is…so was he. Well, he thought he was. He'd never loved anyone before, not really. He'd been with a lot of girls and he'd said a lot of 'I love yous', but they were meaningless, worthless words that he never really cared for. His parents sure didn't mean it when the said it to him. But Jackie, Jackie was so….

He watched as she laid her head down on the table, using her arms as a pillow. They stared into each other's eyes, deeply. Usually, he didn't look into people's eyes. And he didn't let anyone look into his. This was usually easier when Jackie had her infamous shades on, but they were tucked away in her shirt, for once.

The emotion in her eyes was extremely poetic, more so than the night they…got together. There was doubt, fear, anger, but most of all, utter confusion.

She let out a stressful sigh, a wisp of her hair falling in front of her eyes.

Steven, without skipping a beat, lifted his hand to her face, tenderly putting the fallen hair back into its place.

God, he wished she'd remember that night.

The morning after, when he woke up alone; wrapped in a sweaty blanket, his sweatshirt crumpled underneath him, he almost went into shock.

Did he really just have sex with Jackie Burkhart?

She was poor, unruly, and angry. Sure, she was hot, in ways he never thought could be put into human form, but…she was Jackie.

He was supposed to hate her and she was supposed to hate him.

He was almost positive she would yell at him the next day for poisoning her stash or something, since that could have been the only explanation for their night together.

But she acted as if nothing ever happened.

Which was really a shame, since for someone who has sex every night, it was the best he'd ever had.

"What are you thinking about?" Jackie's voice broke his thoughts.

"Just some girl," Steven muttered, lying his head down in a similar fashion.

"Tell me about this girl." Jackie said, closing her eyes.

"What do you want to know?"

"Anything and everything." Jackie replied.

Steven took a deep breath, closing his eyes as well.

"Ok…" He began, clearing his throat. "Well, she's gorgeous, for starters."

Jackie snorted, as if to express her boredom already with this comment.

"She doesn't know it, that's what makes her so unbelievably gorgeous." Steven continued, ignoring her sarcastic noises. "She's got a lot of spunk, lots of spirit."

"Like, school spirit?" Jackie snorted.

"No, like…" Steven searched for the right word, "Heart. She has a lot of heart, but she doesn't show it to just anyone. I really like that about her."

Jackie didn't say anything and Steven wondered if he should open his eyes and catch a glimpse of her reaction.

"Go on." She whispered.

"She has the most amazing smile, especially when she's burning one of her friends." Steven rambled on, not even caring if she realized he was talking about her, "But most of all, I love the way she kisses. It's like she pours everything into her kisses, everything she's ever felt or done, it's there. No one kisses like this girl does."

It was silent some more, until Jackie spoke up, her voice distant.

"She sounds unreal."

Steven opened his eyes, realizing that Jackie was now sitting back up, her face dawning in realization.

"Oh, she's very real." Steven sat up as well, staring into those emotional eyes, concentrating hard, trying to see if she remembered that night.

"I thought…" Jackie stopped herself, pushing her hair behind her ears lazily as she took a deep breath. "Did you ever sleep with this girl?"

He didn't have to answer; the grin on his face was enough to send more cloudy feelings into Jackie's head.

"Jackie, I…"

"Stop." Jackie stood up. "Just stop, right there."

"But…"

Jackie shook her head, sighing out of frustration as she walked away from the table, from him. She roamed around the park, searching for any sign of the one person who could help her figure this out, the one person who knew her best.

It took about five seconds for Kelso to realize that something was terribly wrong with Jackie.

He spotted her, sitting alone on a bench, her arms folded across her chest, her lips trembling.

"Jackie?" He didn't tell anyone that he saw her, he just shrunk away from the rest of the gang as they rambled on about what ride to hop on next.

Jackie looked up at Kelso, a sense of relief washed over her.

"What happened?"

Jackie shook her head, unable to speak.

Her bottom lip began to tremble quicker and Kelso kneeled down before her, placing his hands on her knees, trying to stop her from crying.

"Come on, Jackie, let's go talk, ok?"

Jackie nodded her head, standing up.

He immediately put his arm around her, pushing through the crowd of people, towards a quieter, less populated section of the park.

It was sort of like a garden type area, with scattered trees and benches. There were only two other people around and they were too busy making out to care.

Kelso led Jackie to the most hidden spot he could find, a grassy knoll behind some bushes. He took off his jacket, laying it on the grass. Jackie fell back down on it, hard, curling up into a ball beside him.

"Jackie, does this have to do with Eric?"

Kelso sighed as Jackie didn't say anything. She simply closed her eyes and shrugged. She was hiding again, she did it so well.

"Jackie, don't be like that."

She turned away from him.

Kelso rolled his eyes, lying next to her. "Fine."

Jackie seemed to shiver at his angry tone and turned her head towards him, nuzzling into his neck. He sighed, unable to just sit back and watch her struggle to get through her problems. He felt like he always had to protect her. She never had anyone else. When Jackie's dad left and her mom was never around, he'd sleep over. They'd never really sleep, though. They would just spend hours outside, on her broken down porch swing, staring up at the sky, waiting for shooting stars.

Jackie always wanted to wish on shooting stars.

It was extremely hard for Kelso to watch her, underneath the moonlight, glowing softly like a golden angel as she stared up at the sky, praying for a star to fly by.

"Jackie, why do you want to see a shooting star so bad?" He asked her once.

"Because I want my wishes to come true." She replied calmly, never breaking her gaze at the sky.

"But what if they don't?"

"They will." Jackie replied. "They have to."

They spent so many nights, waiting.

And then one night, when they were about twelve, it finally happened.

Kelso was half asleep, pulling the blanket around him as Jackie suddenly jumped up, running onto the front lawn, whispering loudly to herself over and over again, practically chanting.

"I wish I were someone else. I wish I were someone else. I wish I were someone else. I wish I were someone else."

Kelso saw the last trace of the shooting star up in the sky and Jackie blinking her eyes over and over again, waiting. She was always waiting.

"Come on, Jackie, let's go inside."

"Wait!" Jackie screamed. "Wait!"

And they waited.

But when they woke up, she was still Jackie Burkhart. Only now she was bitter and sarcastic, sad and angry.

And even after that, when Jackie became a bully and a rebel, Kelso was still there protecting her. When the guys in the locker room called her a slut, he'd always defend her. Of course, it was slightly true. But they didn't know why.

When Jackie's mom finally left for good, Kelso leaked the news to the Formans', practically demanding they let her stay with them.

In fact, if it weren't for Kelso, Jackie would probably be on the street right now, doing who knows what.

"Michael," Jackie whispered.

Kelso snapped out of his thoughts, surprised by the tenderness in her voice.

She had never called him that before.

"I love you." She said simply, turning back to her original position.

"I love you too, Jackie." He said, slightly confused.

He heard her muster a cough, then speak up again, "Tonight, do you think we could look for shooting stars? Like we used to?"

Jackie turned to face him once more, her eyes pleading for something. She was waiting for his response, patiently.

She was always waiting…

"Sure, Jackie." Kelso nodded. "We could do that."

"Good." Jackie sighed, turning back again.

Kelso nodded his head in defeat. He prayed that they wouldn't see a shooting star. He really couldn't handle Jackie's wishes.

He just couldn't understand why someone would wish to be someone else.

Especially Jackie. She was so beautiful, so amazing, in every way.

Sometimes, Kelso thought he was the only one who saw it.

Because Jackie definitely didn't see it.

But maybe her wish has changed, Kelso thought.

Maybe she'll wish for something else.

Maybe she'll stop waiting for things to change.

He'd make his own wish tonight, the wish he made when they saw that shooting star, years ago.

"I wish that Jackie's wishes will all come true. I wish that Jackie's wishes would all come true. I wish that Jackie's wishes would all come true."