Something Around the Corner
Goodbye

The silence in the Vista Cruiser was beginning to bore Jackie. At first she had been tense, nervous and worried about this revelation, but after they had been sitting together without saying a word for almost ten minutes, Burkhart the cheerleader in her just couldn't sit here doing nothing for much longer. She shifted slightly, then looked out the window, then looked back over at him.

He was still shock white. She wondered briefly if he had died or something, but she could see his chest moving barely, so she didn't worry. As quietly as she could, she reached into her jacket pocket and pulled out a stick of gum. She slipped it between her teeth and slowly started chewing it. She popped the gum loudly and Eric almost jumped out of his seat.

"Jackie!"

"What! I can't sit here forever, you know."

He started tapping rapidly on the steering wheel. "Okay. Okay. Okay. So-so you're… you're…"

Jackie nodded encouragingly. The sooner he came to grips with reality, the sooner she could talk him into driving her somewhere fun, "That's right. You don't have to say it, Eric, but yes, I am."

"You're… pregnant." His face went white again and Jackie kicked the dash board to snap him out of it.

"Come on, Eric, this doesn't effect you at all! Why do you have to freak out about it?"

"Why aren't you!"

Jackie shrugged, "I was, until now. Now I'm just bored."

"Okay… so… Who else have you told?"

She fiddled with her hair slightly, knowing he wasn't going to like the answer, "uh, well… no one…"

Eric slumped. "Well then why did you have to tell me!" His voice was starting to get high and squeaky, and he was doing that thing where he had panic attacks for other people. Jackie hated that, and yet it felt nice to be the one he was doing for.

"Well… I had to tell someone, I've kept it to myself for a week. And, I'm going to tell my parents tonight, but... You can imagine how that conversation is going to go. I would've told Donna, but she'd go and tell Michael, and I have to be the one to tell him. And I would never have told Hyde or Fez…" she shuddered just thinking of it. "You were really my only option."

Eric looked sulky, but he didn't argue further.

He looked at her once, then turned to stare forward. "Jackie, you seem to be taking this pretty well."

She snorted slightly, "You should have seen me all last week. I was a wreck. But what's done is done, you know? I can't change the past and there's no point in stressing about something that can't be changed."

"Okay, now you just sound irresponsible," he said, starting to panic again. But when he looked at her face, he knew she was more worried then she was letting on. Her eyes were darker then usual and there were dark circles beneath them. "Look, Jackie, you can tell me if you're worried. You know that, right?"

She looked at him and smiled. "Drive me somewhere, okay?"

He shook his head and rolled his eyes, but a laughed a little. Turning the keys in the ignition, he turned to her and asked gently, "Where you wanna go?"

She sighed and rolled down her window, "Just drive, okay?"

Five minutes later she was fast asleep.

Later that night, after waking up in Laurie Forman's bed, Jackie went home with a lump in her throat that felt like the size of Texas. She was almost surprised to find that she was dismayed when she found both of her parents home at home in the living room.

"Oh, Jackie, dear, there you are!" Her mother, wine glass in one hand, kissed her on both cheeks.

"Hello, Jackie, sweetheart," Her father said warmly, a tinge of worry entered his voice as he inquired, "Have you been getting enough sleep, honey? You look tired."

"Hello, mama. I'm fine daddy." She swallowed. They'd have to find out sooner or later. "There's something I have to tell you. You might want to sit down." Jackie sat, but neither of her parents did. "Okay. A couple weeks ago, I realized that I was… I was… late…"

Her father looked confused, but her mother fell onto the couch suddenly with a 'whump'. "Oh, no…"

Jackie nodded, "I went to the clinic last week, and I found out that I'm… I'm pregnant, daddy." Jackie sighed. That happened very quickly, more quickly then she'd have liked it to. Her mother downed the contents of her glass in one gulp.

Mr. Burkhart sighed, then reached down and drew his daughter into an embrace, "There, there sweety, that's okay. Daddy'll make this better… I know a doctor who's very confidential about this sort of thing. We'll have this whole business sorted out by next Monday at the latest."

"Um, what?" Jackie asked, pulling away, "Daddy, I want to keep the baby."

He chuckled and shook his head, "Jackie, this is a decision that needs to be made by an adult."

"No, daddy…" Jackie's voice was starting to get squeaky, reminding her sharply of Eric. "No."

The smile faded from her father's face. "Jackie, I am a very important man, you know. I have an image that I need to keep, or else I won't even stand a chance in the election next fall."

"I know, and I'm sorry, daddy," Jackie took a deep breath and looked at her mother, who still seemed dazed, "But I'm keeping this baby."

"You are going to do as you're told, young lady," the said with the tone of finality. As though he had the last word concerning her body, concerning her child…

Fear suddenly filled her. Could he force her to… to have an abortion? No, he couldn't possibly, but… She had seen him make things happen in ways that… well, in ways that they weren't supposed to talk about. She thought about two months down the road, walking down the stairs, maybe, and maybe, god forbid, maybe feeling hands pressing into her back and falling… or drugs. He could drug her and have the operation without her consent.

Her father would never do that to her. That's what Jackie said. The Jackie inside her said, daddy would never do that to me, he loves me.

A new voice inside her wasn't so sure, as she looked up at his angry eyes.

"I'm leaving," she said suddenly, then realized she shouldn't have said that. She turned around and darted up the stairs. When she reached her room, she locked the door behind her and pulled a suitcase out from her closet. She piled clothes into it, and then looked around the room. She loathed the idea of leaving everything behind, but she couldn't take everything with her.

She looked at her unicorns, and her posters and pictures… they were all a little babyish, but… they were all her. Her chest hurt when she thought about never seeing them again.

Finally, she grabbed a framed picture of her and the 'gang' in front of the Forman's house at Christmas, and, as a last second decision, the locket Eric had gotten her.

Her father knocked at the door and said 'Jackie' in that placating way she hated. She closed her suitcase and surveyed the room one last time before turning to climb out her window.

Rain started to hit the side of the house as she shimmied down the drainpipe, and as she reached the ground, she saw her mother standing behind one of the water streaked windows with a fresh glass of wine. Even as she wondered if she'd been seen, she saw her mother raise her glass in her direction and then shoo her on. Jackie stopped once at the side walk to wave goodbye before running as fast as she could in the direction of the Forman's house.