A/N: Thank you so much for the nice response to this so far. It really does mean a lot. Hopefully, you'll enjoy this chapter as well.
It was cold, way too cold. Probably colder than in Iceland or something. Jackie's winter coat might be very cute, but right now it wasn't doing the job, that a winter coat probably should do. She dragged the toe of her boot through the snow. Jackie would have stayed inside, but Donna had practically dragged her out here. She hugged the jacket tighter around herself. Her eyes followed, as the foreign kid Fez and Donna reappeared on the top of the hill. Fez still practically looked green in the face. Eric was waiting for them at the top, waddling awkwardly around on his skis. Like a lost duck.
Jackie could ski just fine, that wasn't the problem. It was just harder to look cute, when you skied with the wind and all that, and the Burkharts hadn't gotten permission to build a lift, despite how hard her father had tried to get a permit, so you had to walk back up the hill. It didn't look good. And even if Michael had shattered her heart and stomped on it, she still needed to look good. Her mom would have told her that, if she was here. So, Jackie just chose not to ski. She dragged the tip of her boot through the snow again.
The other girls would laugh at her, when she came back to school on Monday, Jackie knew it. They might send her pitying looks, but behind her back, they would laugh. That wasn't even necessarily the worst part, the worst part was that she liked Michael a lot. Maybe even truly loved him, like people did in movies. Michael was fun, and he could be sweet with a little bit of convincing, and even though his friends were all losers, Jackie didn't mind hanging out with them too much, if she was completely honest. Jackie stomped once hard in the snow. And she'd thought Michael had liked her too. Another stomp, that left a deep foot print in the snow.
But her mother would also tell her something else, that it was wrong to sulk. At least over something like this, and when you didn't get anything out of it. Jackie balled her fists and took a deep breath. They had all gone up here without Michael, so maybe she should attempt to enjoy herself, and forget Michael was here. Even if this would have been more fun still being with Michael, and not having her heart completely broken. Jackie headed towards the edge of the hill, where everyone else was. Or for the time being, at least Eric, Donna and Fez.
"Hi Jackie," Donna said, as Jackie approached the rest of them. She came to a halt, next to Donna, Eric and Fez. It was snowing a little bit, but at least it wasn't a snow storm or something like that. "You're still not gonna ski?" Donna asked, brushing hair out of her face, which really proved Jackie's point.
"Please! You may not care about how your hair looks, but some of us do," Jackie said, hoping to sound as confident in her voice as she could. And decidedly not as vulnerable, as when Donna had checked up on her last night. Jackie fiddled with her hair, to underline what she had just said.
"Suit yourself," Donna replied with a hand gesture, and a barely hidden eye roll. Not that Jackie particularly cared about that. Fez stumbled around until he managed to get his skis pointed in the right direction. Clearly this whole skiing thing was new to him. Jackie didn't know much about Fez' homeland, but they clearly didn't have snow or mountains. "Come on, Eric," Donna said in Eric's direction. She smiled at him. "I'll race you to the bottom."
"Oh, you're on, missy," Eric said, as Donna set off, and he followed her down the sloping hill.
"Guys come on! You never wait for me, and Jackie refuses to ski," Fez added, before he started after the other two, a lot more awkwardly than what Eric and Donna had just done. Jackie was alone on top of the hill again. The chill cut into her bones, and she hugged her coat tighter around herself. Michael and Hyde were headed up the hill, and that was almost enough to make Jackie turn her back on the hill and go sit by the fire or something. However, Eric and Donna might actually make it back, before Michael got up the hill.
Michael wasn't the most coordinated at the best of times. Sometimes, it was sort of endearing, but mostly it had been an ongoing project of Jackie's to at least get him to dance better. If Michael was going to be a rich lawyer someday, like Jackie had hoped for, before he had crushed her heart into a thousand pieces, it wouldn't do that he fell over his own legs, at some fancy lawyer party. And Jackie knew fancy lawyer parties were a thing, because her parents had gone to them all the time and left at home with the maids. Jackie bit down on her lip, and watched as Michael almost lost a staff, and just barely managed to stop it, before it started rolling down the hill.
"You know, you could throw a snowball at him?" Hyde said, wrestling Jackie out of her thoughts. Some snow had been sprinkled on the stupid sunglasses, he insisted on wearing. She looked up at him, she'd been so caught up looking at Michael, that she hadn't noticed Hyde had made it back up the hill. Jackie gave him a pointed glare.
"Why would I do that?" Jackie asked with gritted teeth. She crossed her arms. Sure, sometimes Hyde wasn't the worst of Michael's friends, and even though he had let her cry all over him last night, he had also been a stupid jerk. He had not only been a stupid jerk once, he'd been a stupid jerk twice.
"Well, probable cause for one. you did catch him messing around with Pam Macy," Hyde said with a smirk. Jackie rolled her eyes, practically to the back of her head. "Plus, bet seeing him fall face first into the snow would feel pretty good all things considered."
"Now, just because you said that, I'm not gonna," Jackie shot back stubbornly. Since, when did he care what she thought about anything, or felt about Michael kissing that slut Pam Macy? He probably just thought, it would be funny, if Michael got hit in the face with a stupid snowball. It would be something Hyde would do, Jackie was convinced of as much.
"Whatever, man," Hyde said, his expression unreadable behind the sunglasses, he for some reason always wore. He bent down and collected a bunch of snow in his bare hands. It wouldn't surprise her the slightest, if Hyde was too poor to afford gloves. She had barely come to that conclusion, before Hyde pressed the snow into a ball. "Guess, I gotta do everything myself," he said and threw the ball in Michael's direction, before Jackie could do anything to stop him.
"Ow, damn, I got snow under my jacket!" Michael practically shrieked, flailing with his arms. The edges of her mouth tugged upwards slightly. She had to admit, that might be a little satisfying to watch at least in the back of her mind. Out of the corner of her eye, Jackie realized Hyde was smirking. Probably, because he had been completely right. It felt like a cold splash of water. She quickly turned her expression into a very pointed frown, as she turned towards him to face him.
"You are an immature ass, Steven Hyde!" she said pointedly, and tried to shove him, hard. Unfortunately, she didn't get him to fall over on his skis, but it at least momentarily wiped the smirk of his stupid face.
"You're the one, who thought it was funny," he said, almost under his breath, as Jackie turned her back to head back to the cabin. Donna would have to drag her out again, if she wanted to, Jackie really couldn't care less. Maybe she'd read Spy vs Spy or something.
"Donna come on!" Hyde heard a shrill voice, as he and Eric put the last of their bags into the trunk of the car, and the door to the Burkharts' ski cabin closed. They could head back to Point Place, as soon as everyone had gotten their butts into the Vista Cruiser. Which was probably exactly why the owner of the shrill, practically ear-piercing voice, had decided to hold up this whole thing. Jackie's arms were crossed, and she tried to look as intimidating as possible, clearly. Which was kind of hard, since Big Red was roughly twice her height.
"No, forget it I'm sitting in the front with Eric, I'm not sitting next to-" Donna started, and quickly cut off, when she noticed their argument was being watched. Alright, so maybe the problem wasn't entirely just Jackie. Hyde tried to push the queasy feeling down and ignore it. The same queasy feeling, he had been trying to ignore last night, when Donna had first yelled that she was here with Eric, not him. He looked away at the darker trees, wondering if it would just be quicker to walk through the forest and leave his friends here to argue amongst themselves. If he was right about the reason, the girls were arguing, it would probably immediately solve the problem. "You can just sit next to Fez," Donna suggested.
He didn't feel bad about a lot of stuff, but he did sort of feel bad about last night. Sure, Forman and Donna were kind of together, but they also weren't really, and it wasn't like he had asked to like Donna. He just always had. She was the coolest chick he knew, liked all the right kind of music, and probably the only person, he'd ever even remotely consider telling anything about his ma. Forman would start pitying him, Kelso wouldn't get it and neither would Fez and in some hell dimension, where he told Jackie, she'd probably that's what all poor people are like. But Donna would get it. And he'd thought- well, it didn't really matter what he'd thought. People got over crushes all the time, so he was just gonna try and leave her alone until that magical moment happened.
"She can't sit next to me," Fez said in a move that was very uncharacteristic for him. Normally, he would have jumped at the chance to sit next to his Goddess or whatever. Jackie shot Fez a look, that was practically murderous, but he somehow seemed completely oblivious to it. "I want to sit next to Kelso, I didn't get to all the way up here. And Kelso doesn't want to sit next to Hyde – he's scared about his eye."
"It's true, I am," Kelso supplied unhelpfully. If he hadn't already had a pretty good idea about why exactly Donna and Jackie were arguing, he definitely had one now. "But Jackie, you can just sit on top of me, if there's not space enough," Kelso added. Hyde rolled his eyes.
"Oh, shut up, Michael," Jackie bit at him. Hyde might have punched Kelso in the shoulder, if he had been standing next to him. Sure, Jackie could be annoying a lot of the time, to be honest most of the time, but his friend couldn't possibly be that dumb. But then again, Kelso always seemed to be able to find a new low just when you weren't expecting it.
"Man, I can just drive," Hyde suggested to Forman. Eric immediately gave him a sceptical look, even though Hyde could definitely drive a car ten times better than Forman could. "We're gonna freeze our asses off, before these guys agree on shit."
"Oh no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no!" Forman said, practically taking a leap backwards, as if he was afraid Hyde would jump him and wrestle the keys away from him. He held up his hands in defence. "Red is going to literally kill me, if I let anyone else drive the Cruiser. I'm staying in the driver's seat, and that's it," he said, with a foot stomp that was probably meant to look decisive.
"Oh really-" Hyde started, knowing full well, he could definitely be threatening enough to get Forman to budge, no matter how scary Red Forman could look. Forman gave him his best stubborn look, but Forman was about as intimidating as Jackie on a good day. Jackie might actually be more intimidating even on a bad day. Hyde was about to continue.
"Alright, fine!" Jackie cut in, loudly enough that it immediately got everyone's attention. Not, that it was particularly difficult for Jackie to be loud. She threw her arms up in frustration. Jackie exchanged a quick look with Donna. "I'll sit in the backseat."
"Finally," Fez said with a deep sigh, but Jackie ignored that because the two girls exchanged another quick look. That did make Hyde feel like shit. He wasn't sure whether the tiny brunette was gonna run her mouth about him trying to kiss Donna last night, but she definitely knew.
The point of last night hadn't been to make Donna feel bad or creeped out or anything like that. There'd been enough sleazy dudes hanging around Edna, that he wasn't trying to be one on purpose. But Donna and Forman weren't like a thing really, at least not yet, and he just liked Donna. It had seemed fair enough. He might have apologized, if he knew how to do it. Instead he waited for Kelso and Fez to get in the car and watched as Donna took the seat next to Forman. He then took the seat next to Fez, but Jackie didn't take the last remaining seat in the Cruiser. "Can't you scoot over?" Jackie asked with an edge to her voice.
"Jackie, if I scoot over anymore, Kelso is gonna punctate a lung or something," Hyde replied. Jackie gave him a glare, and then Fez another one, before she took the seat next to Hyde with an annoyed huff. She immediately crossed her arms and clearly did her best to look as pissed off as possible.
"And, if I don't have lungs, I'm going to have a real hard time serenading you, when you come running back to me," Michael said, as Forman started the car and slowly started to roll away from the ski cabin.
"Michael," Jackie started with a smile that came across as so sickly sweet, that it was definitely fake no question about it. Hyde caught her balling her hands up into fists, as they were shaking. Not that he was paying particular attention to what she was doing. "You can't sing. And even, if you were the last man on Earth, I wouldn't take you back."
"Kelso leave her alone, man," Hyde said. Not that he cared that much, but it was going to be annoying to listen to all the way back to Point Place. And considering Jackie's friend catching Kelso slutting it up with Pam Macy, and their various fights and all of Jackie's crying, maybe she deserved a break. Just maybe.
"Everyone's against me," Kelso said with a huff. Jackie seemed to shift a little bit in her seat, but her expression was blank.
"Because you're being a moron," Hyde shot back.
"I'm not against you, Kelso," Fez added with a pat on Kelso's shoulder. Kelso gave him what looked like a grateful smile. "Although, you could treat your Goddess much nicer."
"That's still being against me, Fez!" Kelso protested.
Jackie was never really going to stop asking herself what the hell Michael saw in his gang of friends. Or maybe that wasn't entirely true. Donna could be nice on occasion, and she'd be a lot nicer, if she let Jackie help her out with her hair. And the foreign boy Fez was okay, when he wasn't practically smothering Jackie. But Eric and Hyde, she was never going to get why Michael liked being around. Jackie stood in her own thoughts by the sink, as she half heartedly listened to Fez trying to hit on Lisa, Jenny and Tracy.
"Jackie, come here." A voice cut through her thoughts. Jackie rolled her eyes, where he couldn't see her. Speaking of people, she didn't get why Michael wanted to be around.
"Why?" she asked, turning her head towards him. Hyde was standing by the kitchen wall, sipping a soda. Jackie couldn't tell what he was thinking of, or what he wanted to say. Then she remembered Jason, the freshman from the other day, and shuddered. Even though, it would obviously be ridiculous if Steven Hyde wanted to confess his love to her and kiss her under the mistletoe, like Jason had wanted to. Hyde was poor, and he liked that stupid band, so obviously he had bad taste.
"Just come here," he said, his voice a little more hushed like he didn't want Fez and the girls to hear them. He still hadn't told her, what he wanted to say or do either. That made Jackie decide, that she should better be safe than sorry.
"Hyde, if you wanna make out with me, the answer's probably no," Jackie said, almost cringing at her own words as soon, as they came out of her mouth. Probably no? That wasn't how, she had meant to say that at all! The answer was 100% no, never in a million years, not even if it made her young forever or Hyde was secretly a prince. She managed to keep her face straight. Luckily, Hyde looked too taken aback to even burn her with anything.
"Right, okay," he said. Sure, he wouldn't look too bad, if he shaved off those sideburns and wore less dirty clothes, but the answer would still be 100% no. "Look Jackie, I know this girl alright, and I wanna give her a Christmas present."
"Oh my god, it's Donna," she exclaimed. Sure, she'd figured that out months ago, before Donna and Eric had even kissed, but it was always nice to get the confirmation that she was a genius at love. She hadn't told Donna, that she knew Hyde had a crush on her obviously, because while Jackie didn't get it at all, Donna really seemed to like scrawny Eric.
"It's not Donna," he said quickly, suddenly looking very uncomfortable. Jackie remembered that boys were bad at this kind of stuff, unless you gave them a little help. And besides, she would rather he didn't decide to burn her with what she had said two minutes ago, so she decided to appease him.
"Okay, it's not Donna," she said defensively. Jackie decided, it couldn't hurt to give him advice. If nothing else, Eric might get it together and ask Donna to be his girlfriend. Not that she particularly hoped so for Donna's sake, but if Donna wanted to be Eric's girlfriend, Jackie could at least pretend to tolerate it. Jackie shuffled a little from foot to foot. "So, how much do you have to spend?"
"Six dollars," he replied quickly. She slapped his arm, because there was such a thing as being beyond help, even to a love genius like herself.