Chapter: 9/11

Chapter Title: Irascor- to be angry

"You mean nothing to me!"

No, it wasn't part of a confrontation between angsty teens, but was hollered over the crowd of people crammed in Jackie's living room by none other than Fez. He stood on one of Jackie's mother's expensive footstools with a beer can crushed in his fist, yelling drunken obscenities at all those who would listen. A few turned to look up at him- most, however, didn't even bother to gaze in his direction…like usual. Yet, Fez persisted in trying to gain their attention, especially the cheerleading squad's attention.

"Hey you, pretty lady in the pink! Do you like my ass?" Fez said, leering his butt forward as the girl flicked her hair and turned away from him. In midst of a conversation, Hyde and Kelso turned their attention to their drunken friend.

"Yea!" Kelso hollered in excitement with a goofy grin plastered across his face.

"Would you not like some brown sugar?" Fez sputtered, just as he lost his footing and fell forwards. He scrambled to get a grip of anything to break his fall and momentarily smiled as he felt his hands grip on something. Unfortunately for him, Fez had managed to graze his fingers against a crystal vase and instead of breaking Fez's fall it fell down itself. Hyde and Kelso ran forward and managed to save Fez from falling onto the floor, but the vase smashed into several pieces.

"Crap." Hyde mumbled, as Fez whoopeed and yelled at more girls around him to 'make sweet love' to him as he squirmed in Kelso and Hyde's hands. Kelso's mouth gaped open as he saw the smashed pieces of glass on the floor and let go of Fez.

"Oops."

"This is your fault, Kelso!" Hyde accused.

"Mine? Fez is the one that fell!"

"C'mon man, you're the one who orchestrated this whole party when Jackie told you not to."

"I don't know what you're talking about, Hyde. There's no orchestra!" Kelso shouted. Hyde groaned and grabbed Kelso by the collar and pulled him away from the rest of the people.

"Look, Kelso. Why don't you do the smart thing for once and get all these people to leave before they break anything else and you burn Jackie's house again?" Hyde demanded.

"What so you and Jackie can be alone?" Kelso retorted and Hyde scoffed.

"No. So her house won't be destroyed." Hyde responded tersely. The two then heard a few girls shriek.

"Ew! Like oh my God! He's peeing!" A cheerleader yelled. Hyde and Kelso turned to see Fez relieving himself in a potted plant in the corner of the room. Hyde groaned in disbelief.

"See! That's because of you!"

"That's because he had too much beer to drink. He had to go!" Kelso yelled.

"God, Kelso. I knew I shouldn't have smashed your head that hard against the monkey bars in 4th grade." Hyde mumbled to himself.

"Was that you? And all this time I thought it was Miss Kinicki…"

"Just get Fez and the rest of these people the hell out of here, Kelso!" Hyde groaned in annoyance.

"Hey, you can't tell me what to do, Hyde. It's not like this is your house. It's Jackie's. And if she tells me to leave- then I will." Kelso declared. He then looked over Hyde's shoulder. "And she looks like she's having a nice time." He said pointing in her direction. Hyde turned around to see Jackie leaning against the wall of her hallway and flirting with a guy. Hyde sighed and Kelso grinned at his friend and laughed, "She seems to be having a really good time." Hyde glared at him and pushed him aside, before turning around and making his way over to Jackie.

"Jackie, um…Fez broke a vase." Hyde mumbled to Jackie. Jackie looked up at him with a flutter of her eyelashes.

"Oh, hi Steven. This is Brandon Cook." Jackie introduced innocently. Brandon grunted a 'hey' at Hyde. "Brandon's on the football team and he's a drummer in a band." She replied with a faux smile.

"Whatever. Fez broke that big glass vase, Jackie." Hyde repeated, this time making eye-contact with her- something he hadn't done since their "almost kiss". Jackie glanced over Hyde's shoulder and looked at the shards of glass on the floor. She turned back to him and shrugged.

"Oh well. It's my mother's and she's never around to see it anyway." Jackie said nonchalantly and turned her attention back to Brandon.

"Fez is also pissing in the corner." Hyde declared, pointing at Fez who was still relieving himself with an audience now forming around him. Jackie tried to maintain her conversation with Brandon and be "zen", but she finally sighed in defeat and headed over to Fez. Brandon licked his lips as he watched her leave, checking her out.

"She's one hot chick." Brandon said to Hyde. "So what are you? Her ex? Because I sense some tension."

"Nothing, man. I'm just living with her for a while until I find a place to stay."

"So you haven't screwed her yet?"

"No." Hyde replied grimly, trying to hide the anger that was bubbling inside him from just the sight of the guy. The guy- who Jackie was now totally flirting with after she almost kissed him.

"Why not, man? She's got a fine ass and from what I've heard she's pretty good in the bedroom. Knows her way around, y'know."

"Whatever." Hyde said, rolling his eyes and was about to walk off.

"I guess I'll find out tonight anyway." Brandon smirked, taking a sip of his beer. Hyde turned back around to look at the handsome jock in confusion.

"What?" He asked.

"Jackie asked me to stay a little longer after everyone leaves, if you know what I mean." Brandon snickered, as he nudged Hyde. Hyde took a deep breath and nodded at the guy before walking over to Jackie who was desperately trying to calm Fez down.

"Hey. Did you invite that jackass to spend the night?" Hyde asked, pulling Jackie away from the rest of the crowd.

"Not the night. But who knows." Jackie said, casually. She then tried to go back to Fez, but was pulled back into her previous position by Hyde.

"What the hell are you thinking? He's only trying to get into your pants." Hyde said.

"I'm thinking I'm going to have some fun, Steven. And I don't want you to think I actually have a thing for you. Considering you'd rather, what was it you said? You'd rather watch "The Love Boat" then hear my voice. " Jackie declared bitterly, storming off back in the direction of Brandon. Hyde stood confused at Jackie's actions before it dawned on him that she had heard his conversation with Eric and Donna. Hyde groaned in frustration before walking back to Jackie.

"It wasn't like that." He grumbled to Jackie. Jackie paused in the middle of another flirting session with Brandon. She closed her eyes briefly and sighed before turning to look at Hyde.

"You said it." She said, her eyes staring coldly into Hyde's. She then turned her attention back to Brandon. Hyde grew aggravated at Jackie's reluctance and whacked Brandon on the arm, indicating him to leave.

"This doesn't concern you. Leave us alone, man." Hyde said to him. Brandon glanced at Hyde once and snorted in response, not budging. Jackie glanced back and forth between the two teenagers, both looking very eager to break out into a fistfight.

"Steven! Why don't you go away? Considering you'll just ignore everything I say anyway." Jackie said, annoyed that Hyde wanted to get rid of her date.

"I'm not going away, Jackie." He responded.

"Look, you guys can do this another time. Why don't you just beat it, street rat? I'm meant to be with her first. You can fuck her anytime you want after that." Brandon said arrogantly. Jackie shrivelled her nose in disgust, as Brandon then put his arm around her and pushed Hyde away with his other hand. Hyde raised an eyebrow at the gesture, before shoving Brandon fiercely away from Jackie causing him to fall backwards. He regained his stance, however, and then moved back towards Hyde- his fist now clenched. Jackie noticed the two teenagers' hands clasped in tight fists to their side, both with grim lines on their face.

The party members began to notice the scene and the whispering began, ending up with everyone in the room's attention towards Hyde and Brandon and Jackie who had now positioned herself in the middle of the two.

"Move out of the way, Jackie." Hyde said through gritted teeth. Tears began to form in Jackie's eyes- she was growing more and more confused at Hyde's actions. What was his problem? One moment he was going to kiss her and then the next he told his friends how annoying she was and now he was fighting a guy over her?

"What are you doing, Steven?" Jackie asked. It wasn't a question, but a plea. A plea for an explanation that she needed so desperately to make sense of all that had happened to her in the past few days.

Hyde faltered at her question and then replied, "He's a jackass. He's only using you, Jackie."

Jackie then looked him straight in the eye. The tears in her eyes were on the brink of falling and she chewed her lip. The two stared at each other, before Jackie finally spoke. "A-and you're not?"

With that Jackie turned on her heels and left her living room crying, as Hyde tried to comprehend the question. The question, which Jackie didn't stay for the answer. He ran his hand through his hair and groaned as he saw her leave with Donna following close by. He turned back around to see most of the living room looking at him, including his best friends and Brandon. It was Jackie's flirting buddy that was the first to speak up.

"Great, man. Now neither of us can fuck her." Brandon retorted in annoyance. Hyde turned to walk away and then quickly wound around to make full contact between his fist and Brandon's jaw. The football player fell to the floor, clutching his jaw in pain as some blood dripped from his mouth. Kelso and a few others "whoa-ed" and cheered while others remained confused. Hyde stood over Brandon, equally confused, clutching his throbbing fist in pain until Eric quickly pulled him away from the scene.

"What's the hell's wrong with you, man? He's gonna kick your ass!" Eric exclaimed. Hyde ignored his best friend and walked off angrily in the opposite direction to which Jackie had disappeared.

TBC