I know it's been awhile, and I haven't met my deadline for this story, but things have been so hectic lately. But, hopefully this update will make up for that.

Also, there are some race references, stuff that was also referenced in the show. And there's a "Jesus" term dropped that I hope doesn't offend anyone... and there's some curse words, but I feel the crazy situation justifies a few of the words that slip the character's mouths. So, I warned you:)

CH.15 Angie

"You are the saddest person that I have ever seen."

Jackie slowly looked up, her eyes blurred, a pounding headache shouting at her senses. She looked up to see the silhouette of a woman she had once considered an enemy. The reasons for it, like so much, didn't matter anymore.

"Angie." She groaned, closing her eyes, "I called Stev- Hyde. I called Hyde."

"Mm-hm, I know you did. But he's not in. And I just so happened to be visiting my white, unwanted, baby, half-brotherwhen you called. And you are lucky."

Jackie's head lurched toward the dashboard of Angie's car, her form stiff. "I feel lucky.", she bitterly groaned, "It's been four fffffreakin' hours in a holding cell… Little Jackie is probably senile by now…"

"Little Jackie?" Angie questioned, barely placing the key by the ignition, pausing in her action to ask carefully, "You and my brother don't have a kid, right?"

Jackie let out a bitter laugh, "Ha! I'd remember that!"

Angie shook her head, turning on the car and pulled out of the parking lot of the precinct, saying, "How many tickets you got today? You have a whole mess of court dates and more jail time coming if you don't pay them."

Jackie rolled her eyes, staring out the window, "I could barely feel my face…" She groggily turned toward the woman who could've been her sister-in-law if things were different, "What did they give me anyway?"

Angie shrugged, pulling up to a light, "Hell as I know. I just know your ass was sedated. I'm surprised you remembered Hyde's number."

Jackie turned back out the window, letting the scenery reflect in her eyes as she mumbled, "I could be blind, deaf and dead and still remember his number." She noticed a few buildings had different markers and signs then she was expecting and turned back to the driver, "Where are you taking me?"

Angie tensed for a moment before saying, "Look, I'm taking you to the Formans-"

"NO!" Jackie roared, the numbness in her body holding her back from talking faster than normal as she said, "You told me we were going back to Little Jackie's house in Steven's old neighborhood! We were gonna investigate for clues since the cops in this city are as competent as Barney Fife!"

"Yeahhhhh," Angie shrugged, "I just said that so you'd get in the car."

"What?!"

"I didn't want to make a scene in front of a police department, Jackie!" She then murmured to herself, "Unlike you who rode in on a stolen bicycle and went full-metal bitch on a cop."

"How do you know the bike's stolen?" Jackie demanded, silently cursing herself for taking a minute longer to finish the sentence than she normally would have.

"Boy showed up looking for it." Angie coolly responded, "But if it makes you feel any better, he was willing to drop the charges in exchange for a date with you."

"Forget that kid!" Jackie dropped her tone, pointing at the direction she wanted to go in, "Go back. I let this poor girl go once, I'd be damned if I'm gonna make the same mistake twice."

"Seriously, Bicycle Thief? You a stalker on some crazy shit or what? I aint going back! I have no idea who this girl is! Who is she? What's her name? What's her favorite color? What're her dreams?"

"I DON'T KNOW!" The ex-cheerleader lashed out, "I'm terrible Big Sister! I don't know and I never did! I never thought to ask because I could sometimes be selfish- okay? But, but I do know she likes Madonna, she wants to get a job… she did a report on the Hub…" That last part she threw in, desperation kicking in.

Stopping at another red light, Angie turned to her, asking her seriously, "Her name, Jackie. What is it?"

With slumped shoulders, she let her mouth hang, "She said it so many times… I just never listened."

When the light turned green, Angie pressed onward. She watched out of the corner of her eye as the small woman to her right slumped in her seat. Then she hunched forward, her face buried in her hands and it almost looked as if she were going to cry in defeat.

"Goddammit." The business woman groaned, pulling over the car. When Jackie looked up to see why they stopped, Angie told her seriously, "You better not be wasting my time, Jackie. If we go back, there better be a missing girl, and she better answer to 'Little Jackie.' And if I find out this is some sick, twisted, little game in that pom-pom cheered head of yours, I'm gonna backhand your face so hard yer mouth will shoot off, got it?"

Jackie blinked, silently nodding.

As Angie worked on turning the car around in the tiny space they had on the street, Jackie slowly smirked. Like brother, like sister. She used to pull the same stunt with Hyde all the time. When she wanted something and he wouldn't give in, she went from asking, to demanding, to making a scene, then to crying. He always caved when she shed a tear, begrudgingly though.

Her victory went short lived as her thoughts wandered past the Barnett/ Hyde siblings and onto other, more pressing matters.

She leaned back in her seat, wiping away the drop of water on her cheek, staring out the window. Letting out a long breath, she whispered, "Don't worry, Little Jackie… I'm coming for you."

())))

The smell of dried blood assaulted her senses, stirring her awake. Opening her eyes, she realized the cause- decayed meat, everywhere, with flies swarming all around the place. One even landed on her eye, and she blinked it away.

"My legs feel numb." Colette coughed, her body still suspended three feet above the ground. Caroline, somewhere behind her, talking to herself and hitting her own head responded sharply, "Too bad!" The blond woman then went back to talking to herself, "Now what do we do? We never thought we would make it this far!"

Colette then heard Caroline scream before responding to herself, "We need to get rid of her. She can identify us to the police!" And then Caroline's voice took a softer tone, "But I want to keep her! I want to play… I want to have fun!" Then Caroline's voice grew harsh, "Not even you know what to do with her! She's been here for hours and you don't even have the guts to peel off her skin layer by layer while she's good and awake!"

Colette's eyes widened at that one.

Then Caroline's voice was soft again, whispering, "I can't do that! She looks up to me! She loves me!"

All was silent before a huge noise rippled behind Colette. Jerking her head to see what was happening behind her, Colette noticed Caroline wrestling with herself, tossing herself onto a bunch of boxes, punching her own stomach forcefully. Then her voice grew harsh once more, "Listen to me, 'Crazy Caroline', that girl doesn't look up to you or respect you! She loathes you! Just as Fez and everyone else in the stinkin' town loathes you! There is no love for you here because no one could ever love you! Now, KILL her!"

Colette watched in a mixture of curiosity, interest and horror as Caroline shook her head, crying out, "I just want someone to talk to, someone to listen to me! I don't want to kill her! I'm not a murderer!"

Caroline's voice took on a malicious tone as it snarled, "You are as I have made you to be, never forget that! Now, if you truly want to be free, terminate the girl!"

"No!" She whimpered.

"DO IT!" She boomed.

Colette's gulped, suddenly feeling nauseous. A part of her wanted to speak, but her voice caught in her throat. Was this the feeling of terror? When you feel you are helpless to save yourself, just hanging, waiting for something out of your control to just jump out and end you?

"Yes." She whispered to herself, "This is definitely that."

At that moment she fell to the ground with a thump. When she looked back up, she saw Caroline, her eyes completely hollow when she spoke, "You have to leave."

Colette was sure that there was more to the story. Caroline just wouldn't take so much trouble to capture her simply to release her in the end, right?

The blond nutshell told her simply, "The voices… they tell me that I have to kill you. I don't want to. But they won't shut up. So…" Colette thought she finished when Caroline suddenly looked sharply into her eyes, "I'll give you a twenty minute head start to get as far away from me as possible, and then, if I catch you, it's over."

Colette didn't even want to blink, she was frozen in fear.

Caroline shouted, "GO! Get On With It! LEAVE!"

Trying to scramble on her numb legs, the girl from the wrong side of the tracks crawled away as fast as she could. Her legs felt like they were being filled with sand, but at least she was feeling something.

As Colette crawled, she realized that she didn't know where she was crawling toward. She let out a whimper, afraid to turn around and see Caroline running after her with some sort of weapon, knowing she was unable to defend herself.

"FUCK!" Colette cursed, pounding her hand against the concrete of the ground, convinced she was going to die simply because she couldn't get the feeling back in her legs on time.

Behind her she heard a sigh, "Must I do everything for you? Two minutes in and you managed to crawl two feet. Geez!"

Colette felt herself being lifted, and just when she was going to strike out at Caroline, she noticed the blond woman was helping her walk… to a door that was on her left… that read in giant red letters 'EXIT.'

"Uh… thanks." She mumbled, shell-shocked.

Caroline opened the door and pushed her out, rolling her eyes, "Don't thank me yet. You're down to seventeen minutes, Little Jackie." She then winked, singing, "One way, or another, I'm gonna getcha! I'm gonna cutcha, cutcha, cutcha! One way, or another-" The blond shut the iron door behind her, her voice still being heard singing, "I'm splice ya! I'm gonna splice, and dice, and fightcha!"

A stunned teenager stayed put outside the exit door, the gravel under her. Blinking, she snapped herself out of her shock and looked around. She was outside, laying by the door to some sort of warehouse, with no sounds of life other than wildlife. She crawled another foot, reached out to a tractor, and pulled herself up, stomping her legs so that she could get more feeling into them. She was still having problems with her toes, but she didn't care.

As fast as she could, Colette circled around the warehouse, only to find that it was completely surrounded by a forest. There was one gravel road that led to the warehouse, but she was hesitant to take it, convinced that it would be the first thing Caroline would choose to follow when she decided to stalk her. Why not? Everyone knew roads eventually led to civilization, so anyone in their right mind would pick it. But then Colette remembered something- Caroline wasn't in her right mind.

Smacking herself in the head she grumbled, "Do I take the damn road or not?"

"FIFTEEN MINUTES LEFT!" She heard deranged laughter from inside the warehouse.

Groaning, Colette decided to trudge down the road, passing a wooden, crumbling sign that read, "Wisconsin Meat Packing Company, Since 1903!"

)))))

Angie watched with mild interest as Jackie ran around a particular shed by a rundown house. Leaning against her car, the business woman asked, "What are you doing?"

Scratching her chin, Jackie told her, "I need to figure out where Caroline would take Little Jackie!"

Being sarcastic, Angie checked her nails as she said, "Maybe she took her to an abandoned warehouse down the road."

At that moment, one of Colette's brothers walked out of the house, a beer in his hand, "So, how long you ladies gonna be here? Like, my mom's gonna be home in a little bit, and I kinda want you out of here by then."

Jackie snapped at him, "Go back inside and cater to your pregnant girlfriend and leave us alone!"

His eyebrows rose high. He looked over at Angie who simply shrugged at him. He then gulped down his beer, trying to look tough, "Fine. Maybe I will." As he left, the screen door creaking behind him, Angie turned to Jackie, "So, refresh my memory on what happened?"

Jackie shook her head, investigating the shed area, "It's a long story, but I believe Little Jackie was abducted here."

"By….?"

"Crazy Caroline." Jackie answered, noticing a space between the rake and hoe. She pointed at the back of the shed, saying more to herself than Angie, "There was something here. Maybe another rake, or a shovel… but it's been removed."

Uninterested, Angie walked over, "How do you know?"

Jackie pointed at the wall, "It rained yesterday. The water darkened the paint, except for certain parts it couldn't reach." Jackie lifted the rake to reveal that where it once stood, leaning against the wall of the shed, there were thin, barely visible dry spots.

"Big deal." Angie told her, unimpressed.

Jackie then pointed to the area between the rake and the hoe, showing Angie very similar dry spots, "We know the rake made the last dry spots but what made those?"

"So, you think there was another rake out here or something?"

"Maybe…" Jackie leaned in closer, noticing where the dry marks were and looked down. A piece of dirt was hastily removed, as if the tool was planted in the ground to be secure from falling, and then suddenly someone yanked it from the ground. She then completed her thought, "But I think it's more likely there was a shovel."

Slowly, the former cheerleader's head moved toward a forested area that surrounded the back of the house and shed. She told Angie in an emotionless tone, "If I were going to kidnap someone, I'd hide in there."

"You," Angie started, backing away from Jackie, "You aint gonna kidnap me, right?"

At that, Jackie rolled her eyes, "Oh, be serious Angie! What would I gain from a dumb act like that?" The brunette then trudged into the woods, ignoring the fact that the sun was beginning to crawl behind the horizon.

)))

Her toes began to have some sort of feeling back in them. Colette realized that even someone as psychotic as Caroline would eventually follow her down the gravel road. In a panic, the girl brashly veered off to the right side of the road, right inside a forest. The trees were long and thin, their bark tinged orange from the sunlight. Colette didn't care. She didn't care where she was heading, as long as it was away from Caroline.

With trembling hands, she wiped the hem of her Dorothy inspired skirt, and trudged uphill in the forest.

(((

Angie and Jackie walked alongside one another in silence, neither commenting of the fading sun or their dwindling hopes. Every so often, Angie would sigh very loudly, showing her impatience without actually saying anything. It was a technique Jackie herself was very familiar with, doing it from time to time on Steven or Michael, but more so with Michael. It was her way of telling her first boyfriend that she needed attention. Now Jackie merely rolled her eyes, aware of how the woman next to her was sighing even louder, Angie's special way of saying "You're wasting my time."

After the tenth loud sigh, Jackie snapped, "Ok, I've had enough! Either shut up and keep searching for her with me, or sigh your way back to the car!"

Angie narrowed her eyes, "Excuse me, but I am the one who bailed your sorry, skinny ass outta jail- so if anyone must endure my sighs, it's gonna be you."

Jackie nodded, "Well, first off, thank you for the skinny ass compliment-"

"Was not a compliment."

Jackie continued, "But I cannot tolerate this. We must search for Little Jackie, look for footprints or drag marks, or something!"

"Then what do we do, Velma? Round up the rest of the Scooby Gang?" Angie asked, her voice dripping in sarcasm, "'Cause, in case you have not noticed, the sun is setting and my feet hurt. I want to go dump your butt with the Formans and take a long hot bath, and rub my brother's failure in his face tomorrow since I didn't get the chance to do it today."

Jackie blinked, pausing in her investigation of the leaves, "Brother's failure?"

Angie nodded, resting on a nearby stump, "Well duh. Why else would I visit Point Place from Milwaukee? This small town crowd is definitely not my scene. And the mall here? Sells items that were brand new five years ago! So, the only reason I would ever have to visit this hellhole is to rub in smug half-brother's face his failure as a business man."

Jackie stared at her, for a moment forgetting Little Jackie, "What're you talking about? The only business he owns is Grooves, and as far as I know, that's doing just fine."

Angie laughed, "Girl, you serious? He didn't tell you?"

From Jackie's confused expression, Angie's laughter trickled off. It was replaced by a sterner, almost sympathetic tone, "… Oh shit. He didn't tell you."

"Tell me what?" Jackie dared ask.

The business woman from across from her stared at her with the oddest expression on her face before she breathed in deeply and released a heavy sigh. With a shrug of her shoulders, she said, "He lost Grooves."

Jackie's jaw dropped, "He lost Grooves? How could he lose Grooves?! I was just there TODAY and it was fine! Leo was there, Randy was there! In fact, Randy's ALWAYS there, though I have no clue why!"

Angie leaned forward, her tone dropping, "Look, I am just telling you what I know-"

"You're lying!" Jackie snapped, pointing a judgmental finger at her.

Angie raised her hands up, "I aint lying."

"Well then, someone's lying to you because Steven would never lose Grooves! He's loves it, and it's his baby-" the ex-cheerleader sputtered.

Angie cocked an amused eyebrow to the side, "He sold out to a bigger company."

"You bite your tongue!" Jackie seethed, "Steven Hyde may be a lot of things, including a thief, a stoner and an occasional asshole, but he is not a sell-out!"

Angie smirked, "He is now."

"Where did you get this info?!" Jackie demanded, "Rumors R Us?!"

With two words, Jackie was silenced. Hyde's sister simply folded her arms across her chest and crisply responded, "From him."

"What?" A befuddled Jackie gawked, her mouth hanging open.

Angie nodded, "I'll give you the long story, short stuff. But, here it goes… a long time ago, my father married my mother and together the pair of them made Grooves. It was more than a record store, Jackie, more than a clog in the music industry… Grooves was a movement! My father's brain child made with my mother's inheritance, Grooves signaled a place where minorities could be free to listen to their music in peace. With time, my father eventually molded it into the corporate music jaganaught it was a few years ago. Now, my mother eventually lost interest in Grooves, considered it my father's project, and turned her attention to politics, but not my daddy."

Bitterly, Angie chuckled, "He loved that blasted company more than he did his own family. You see, my father always wanted an heir to his music kingdom… someone to take the reins after he left. In other words, the man wanted a son. Instead, my mother gave him three daughters. And he loved us, I never doubted that, but he felt me and my sisters were incompetent to actually run the business without a man in our lives to help us along. Well, the three of us set off to prove him wrong… but then my younger sister, Alexandria, got married to some rich doctor in Florida and took off on us. Then my youngest sister, Anna, followed her lead and married some lawyer from Chicago! My father was actually proud of them, and chastised me at both their weddings for not following their lead! He got after me for not marrying sooner, since I was the oldest! He actually said that they were behaving like proper women and that I should go off and find some nice, young man to marry! Now look, I'm all for marriage if you actually love the guy, but let's face it- both my beloved younger sisters were marrying for status. But you know what? It all made me more determined than ever to prove that I didn't need a man to provide for me in this world, and I set off in proving to him that I was his successor, his heir. And it took 6 long years of hard work, being an uptight bitch and finishing school courses he never thought I would finish. And when the smoke cleared, he had to grudgingly admit that I was it- I would be the one to take over the empire when the time came."

For a fleeting moment, Angie actually looked pleased with herself. But then the emotion flew from her face and was replaced by a sour expression. She continued, her tone changed slightly, "But then he came along… Steven Hyde. And all those years of proving myself went straight down the toilet. My father just read that the DNA results matched, and he tossed me aside like a worn shoe and ran up to his son. He did everything in his power to make that loser's life better- including replacing me with him. Suddenly, all my father could talk about was "his son" and "being a chip off the old block." And I would just stand back, thinking about their many differences- like how my daddy had motivation, and this loser didn't. And how my daddy thought of others, and Hyde was nothing but a selfish creep! And how we were black and this was a white boy we were talking about! The DNA tests had to be wrong, right? So I had the damn things checked five times! And each time it was confirmed that the loser, orphan, white boy was my brother… a piece of me died! Then, my daddy tried to make it better, and smooth everything out between me and him, and told us to share Grooves. Man may have known music but he was dumb to his own children because I wanted that music chain to survive, and Hyde obviously didn't."

Jackie couldn't bite her tongue any longer. She blurted out, "Steven loved that store. It was his livelihood! Maybe you just didn't see it because you didn't want to! You were too busy feeling jealousy and anger at your brother because your father passed you over!"

"Half-brother!" Angie corrected, dark eyes narrowing, "And my father passed me over because of Hyde! Everything is his fault! Then daddy had me transferred over to another branch, the business end of it, because he wanted Hyde to manage a store without me! You think I'm stupid? You think I didn't know what the hell was going on around my back? I am a mathematics and business graduate- of course I knew! But I put on a pretty face and pretended to be happy while secretly I wanted to destroy all my father's Lamborghinis by driving them off the Grand Canyon!"

"Steven had nothing to do with that-"

Angie cut in venomously, "So, I thought that was it. The worst of it was over! I lost the battle, but maybe with time and hard work, I could show my father that I have excelled in my position within the company enough to earn back his favor despite the inconvenience of a Steven Hyde… until I get a memo half a year later, explaining that he had just sold Grooves to another company for a 'butt-load of money!' I nearly had a heart attack! And when I confronted him, you know what I discovered? He and his 24 year old mistress, Cinnamon, were going to Hawaii and that the hoe was 7 months pregnant… with a boy!"

Jackie's eyes widened as Angie croaked, "Now, I knew that he and my mother had been separated for nearly a decade, but my mother doesn't just run off with the pool boy she has the occasional affair with, you know?"

The brunette ex-cheerleader only nodded. She understood parents having affairs all too well. Angie continued, "So I thought he screwed over both me and Hyde! And then I learn, no… he just screwed me over because he gave Hyde the last remaining Grooves! He sold everything from the kingdom except one nugget of gold, and instead of giving that to the daughter he raised, he gave it to the son he never knew."

"Maybe he did it because he felt guilty about not being in Steven's life. Maybe he felt he owed his son." Jackie offered.

Angie snapped, a certain intensity in her eyes as she hollered, "He owed his daughters, especially me. So, for years I've bounced from one thing to another, unhappy at all my jobs, unable to get in contact with my father because his precious little boy, William Burnett Jr., keeps him busy all the time! And then, a few months ago, out of the blue, I got a call from my other half-brother. He's upset, he's rattled, and even though he thinks I can't hear it, he's scared. He wants me to loan him money, and I drag outta him that it's for Grooves. He can't keep up. Tapes are the new records, people want merchandise such as radios and calendars and so forth… he's being beaten by the competition." Here is where Angie smiled brilliantly, "He nervously tells me that he can't get in touch with our dear, old dad. He has no idea where he is. He needs help. So I promptly tell him to go jump off a bridge and I hang up. Golden boy is floundering, just as I knew he would." As an afterthought, Angie added, "Too bad daddy didn't stick around long enough to see that I was his real successor."

Jackie marched right up to the other woman and slapped her face so hard an audible pop rang out for meters. She angrily whispered, "You inconsiderate jerk! Steven has worked hard for that store, changing a few bad habits so that he could be a proper business man, and here he is, losing the only thing his absent father ever gave him, and you just sit here, with the stupid smirk on yer face as if he deserves it! Well he doesn't. And maybe your father was right about you… you are definitely not Grooves-management material."

Angie stood to her full height, towering over Jackie, a glare in her eyes that was all too familiar yet alien as she said, "Look here, ex-girlfriend, you have no stake in the company just like I don't. But the difference is, you never had! So shut up. All I know is that Hyde's selling the last Grooves on earth and that's what he's been doing this whole day. The man is preparing to sell his life away, and I couldn't be more tickled. And I guess he closed shop early because the old hippie and the pretty boy were gone and the store was closed when I got there. And of course I got in, Hyde didn't even bother changing the locks so my old key still worked- talk about being lazy."

"Maybe he trusted you!"

Angie rolled her eyes, "I was sitting around, and lounging and looking at how little had changed. Then the phone rang, and I heard your voice. That's how I came to pick you up, so you better shut yer trap, because girl…" Angie looked her dead in the eye, "You owe me."

Jackie narrowed her eyes, "I don't owe you a thing, and neither does Daddy Warbucks! You wasted your entire life trying to get your paws on his empire! You know, if you had to start your own company from the ground up, like Steven had to, you wouldn't know which way to turn!"

"Not true!" Angie screeched, "I would so totally know what to do!"

Jackie rolled her eyes, "Yeah, you're all tough talk now, after the fact. But you are a quitter, Angie. You are someone who wants hand-me-downs. Hell, I'm looking for Little Jackie, and my time is being blown listening to your sob story of how your rich daddy didn't give you attention! Bitch, my dad's in federal prison and my mother is in Mexico sipping on Tequila's and cha-cha dancing with guys names Jose and Roberto! I have no job, no money, no home, and no family! So boo-hoo you! All I got is Little Jackie, and some crazed, escaped, mental patient stole her! So, excuse me if I'm busy looking for someone who actually matters to me!"

Jackie made a sharp turn to her right, shouting at the top of her lungs, "CAROLINE, YOU PSYCHOTIC LOON, IF YOU CAN HEAR ME, I'LL TRADE YOU: LITTLE JACKIE FOR ME!"

Angie ran up to her, "What the hell are you doing? Shouting in the forest to no one!"

"I want Little Jackie back!" Jackie hissed, her eyes glassy, "I fucked up my own life and I will not rest until I set hers on the right path! One of us has got to get out of Point Place and be something, and since it obviously won't be me because I'm an idiot who can't get my shit together, then it's gotta be her!"

Angie shot her a confused look, "But didn't Donna leave? From what I heard, she's okay."

Jackie blinked, "Wait… you talked to Donna?"

"Well, yeah. We never lost touch."

Jackie let out a bitter chuckle, "Why not? She talks to you, why not? She talked to Mrs. Forman, she talked to Steven, she even talked with the damn stripper Sam! Everyone on the planet besides me, so why not?! Why shouldn't I be surprised at the goon!"

Angie had an amused face, "Why would she talk to you?"

"Because I was supposed to be her best friend, but obviously I wasn't okay!" Jackie snapped so fast Angie instantly wiped away her smile. And then Jackie punched a tree with all her force, shouting, "Donna, you stupid bitch!" As soon as she punched it, she recoiled, grabbing her bloody knuckles, her face in shock of what she had just done. Angie reluctantly approached her, her dark eyes wide, "Girlfriend, calm down before you kill us out here and people think it's the Lady of the Lake."

Jackie looked up at her helplessly as Angie explained, "Yeah, Michael told me that story of the kids in the woods that killed by her, and all the cops found were some sketchy recordings."

Jackie let out a bitter laugh, remembering when most of the gang graduated, "Eric and Donna told that story." And then her bitter laugh turned to one of nostalgia as she recollected with some fondness, "Eric got stuck in a thorn bush. He was always doing stupid stuff like that… one Christmas he got himself stuck in a fireplace of some factory…"

"What?"

Jackie shook her head, her small smile fading, "It doesn't matter. It was a long time ago." Jackie pushed herself away from Angie, going over to a spot on the ground that looked suspiciously liked drag marks. As she kneeled down to investigate, Angie followed her, her voice cutting through the air, "I've only talked to the girl once or twice a year. I think she's going into the radio business, since she was a DJ and all. But, I'm not sure. She never talks about herself, for all I know, she could be married to skinny-nerd boy or going out with someone new and I wouldn't know. She doesn't even talk about Point Place, it's almost as if she'd rather forget this place."

For some reason, that last sentence stung. Angie continued, "But she talks about music a lot. The trends and so forth. She seems interested in the business side of things. Every time she calls, I expect her to ask me for a job, but she doesn't. She seems preoccupied for some reason, like if she's talking with me but not really talking with me, like if she's distracted. I don't think she has any kids or anything, I mean I never hear any kids or any babies crying in the background."

Jackie studied the drag marks on the dirt, noticing that they continued farther up, and there seemed to be a … was that a shoe? A Converse? Was it Little Jackie's? Jackie got up and jogged over to it, with Angie still talking behind her, "I don't know what happened to the skinny-nerd guy. He seemed like he would be smart in grades, so I'm guessing he would go off to school, but I don't know. That guy makes some questionable decisions. Like, someone told me he ran off to Africa. Now Africa is a great place, beautiful and all, but there are diseases over there and most of it is basically a third world country! When I first heard he went there, I thought the boy was gonna die!" She paused, asking Jackie suddenly, "He aint dead, right? I heard a rumor of a white boy dying around that time, fell off the water tower… that wasn't him, right?"

Jackie picked up the shoe, inspecting it. Did it belong to Little Jackie? She couldn't remember.

"Cinderella," She heard Angie's voice. Turning around, she saw the other woman pointing a little farther ahead, "I don't know if this fits into your theory, but there's a road up ahead. Wanna check it out?"

Jackie stood up, shoe in hand, looking at the gravel road Angie had just brought to her attention.

They had barely reached it when a small figure came into view. Jackie had to blink twice until her eyes adjusted to it- it was a woman. She couldn't help the excitement that swelled in her chest as she jumped up and down, "It looks like Little Jackie!"

Before Angie could protest, Jackie took off like a bullet toward the other figure, but as she got closer and closer, she realized something… it wasn't Little Jackie at all.

Jackie stopped, bewildered, "Caroline?!" It only took a moment for Jackie to gather herself before shouting at the other woman, "Now you tell me right now where Little Jackie is at or I'll-"

The blond grunted, raising a shovel before screaming like a maniac, "AAAAAHHHHHHH!"

Jackie panicked, abruptly turning around and shouting, "Okay, nevermind!" As Jackie ran back to Angie, gesturing for the business woman to do the same, Angie pointed at Caroline who was gaining speed on Jackie, "The hell is this shit? Did I just step into a Michael Mayer's movie?!"

Jackie shrieked, "It's NOT Little Jackie now move-move-MOVE!"

The brunette pushed past the business woman as the blond maniac gained speed, shouting, "Kubla-Kahn! Kubla-Kahn!" Angie freaked out, "Oh my God, it's a crazy bitch!" She turned around just as Caroline took a swing at her with the shovel, Jackie trying desperately to lose them both as she ran into the woods. But Angie followed her, screaming, "Goddammit Jackie! This is the LAST time I am following you into the woods at night!"

All three woman ran in circles, Caroline changing every so often from chasing Jackie to Angie.

Caroline took another swing at Angie, the shovel planting itself in the trunk of a tree. Angie laughed, "Ha! Now I got you, psycho!" But just Angie was about to slap Caroline across the face, the blond giggled manically and punched Angie in the throat, causing the business woman to gasp and topple to the ground as Caroline repeatedly kicked her side.

Jackie saw the whole thing and had two choices- Option One: Run far away very fast… or Option Two: Help out Angie.

Caroline sang as she kicked Angie again, "Do you know the Muffin Man, the Muffin Man, the Muffin Man! Do you know the Muffin Man!-"

"Aww, hell!" Jackie grumbled, running straight at Caroline, shouting, "Muffins are fattening!"

As Jackie tackled Caroline, the pair fell onto the leafy ground, Angie gasping for air. Both rolled around, slapping and punching one another, until Caroline pulled Jackie's hair, to which a pain filled Jackie shouted, "Bitch, you did not just do that!" She then tried to pull Caroline's hair as she screamed, "It takes HOURS to make my hair look this classy and you just had to RUIN it!"

Caroline's response was biting Jackie's hand, instantly causing the brunette to retract her hand as Caroline giggled, "Mmm! You taste like chicken!"

Jackie glared at her, "And if I had to guess, I'd say you tasted like prescription pills!"

Caroline shouted, "TIME TO GO NAPPY-NAP!" And backhanded Jackie to hard that the ex-cheerleader lost her barring, letting Caroline roll on top of her. The blond grabbed a nearby rock and smiled, "Say 'Hi' to Jesus for me, will ya?"

"NO!" Jackie screamed, closing her eyes and covering her face with her arms just as Caroline was about to deliver the blow.

THUNK

Jackie waited and waited, but only felt a weight sliding from her midsection. She hesitantly uncovered her eyes to see Caroline knocked out beside her, the rock still clutched firmly in her hand. Slowly, Jackie looked up to see her savior-

It was an awkward looking teenage girl in a Dorothy dress, covered in dirt from head to toe, a shovel in her hand. Colette choked out, her eyes watering, "I wanna go home."

Jackie immediately jumped to her feet, scooping up the girl in her arms as Little Jackie dropped the shovel, crying despite trying her best not to in front of 'Big' Jackie, "I found the shovel in the tree trunk, and then- then I saw Crazy Caroline on top of you… I didn't want her to hurt you-"

Jackie nodded, telling the younger girl, "It's okay. I promise, we'll just drop off crazy at the nearest mental hospital, take you to the Forman's to get all cleaned up, and I'll drive you straight home, okay?"

Colette nodded, her tears winding down as she snuffled, "I don't know why I'm crying… I'm usually tougher than this."

"You withstood Crazy Caroline, I'd say you are pretty tough already." Jackie said before engulfing her namesake in a hug.

After a moment, they pulled back, Colette seemingly embarrassed to look Big Jackie in the eye. Jackie caught this and shrugged, rubbing her friend's shoulder sympathetically, "Besides, it's been a long day, and we'll leave it at that. And if it bothers you so much, we'll make a deal. You don't tell anyone Caroline almost bested me, and I won't tell anyone you cried, okay?"

Colette offered Jackie a small smirk, "Okay."

As they started to walk toward Colette's house, both of them dragging Caroline's unconscious body, Colette asked Jackie hesitantly, "Uh… Jackie?"

"Yes, Little Jackie?"

"You're not mad at me for walking out on you, are you?"

"No," the ex-cheerleader grunted as she continued to drag Caroline's body, "It was my fault, really. Now let's leave it all in the past."

"Okay…" Colette agreed before asking, "And, uh, Jackie?"

"It's all in the past, Little Jackie.", Jackie told her as Caroline's hair got snagged on a grounded branch.

"Yeah, yeah, I know." Colette nodded before gesturing toward the spot they were leaving in the darkened woods, "I was just wondering if we should also be taking that other lady."

Jackie pulled a face, "What other lady?"

Just as she said it, she heard a familiar voice, "Uhhhh, what happened?"

Jackie's eyes widened, "Oh my God, we're forgetting Angie!" As Jackie dropped Caroline and quickly raced back to get her other friend, Colette mumbled, "Angie? Who the hell is Angie?"