Author's Note: Inspired by the episode "Everybody Loves Casey" (4.26).

Jackie knew her relationship with Michael was moving downhill. And yet, no matter how hard she tried to keep the two of them happy and together, she couldn't get a firm enough grasp on the situation to make any difference. The futility was exhausting, but Jackie knew that if things between them didn't change soon, their relationship would be destroyed for good. And without her soulmate, Jackie would be miserable for the rest of her life.

Her situation reminded her of what she had learned in chemistry last week. In going over the laws of thermodynamics, Jackie had learned that everything in the universe naturally moves towards entropy, or disorder, and no system can overcome it. Jackie was immediately disheartened, and had excused herself to the bathroom, because suddenly she had felt like her relationship with Michael was the system doomed to entropy, and there was nothing she could do about it.

Thankfully, that afternoon Jackie had found comfort in Cosmo when one of the articles was titled "You're Soulmates, Of Course There's a Fix!" Jackie rapidly forgot all about the laws of science. What did science know about soulmates, anyways?

The article spoke about all the different problems some soulmates encountered on their journey together. As for the section on cheating, which Jackie's eyes immediately fell to, it read that "soulmates cheat not to end the entire relationship, and often when soulmates cheat, it's because there is a more profound problem with the relationship. If you and/or your partner have cheated on one another, try and identify this hidden problem. You might just find that it will not just resolve the cheating, but salvage your entire relationship! After all, you are meant to be!"

Jackie was inspired. And after further delving through the article, Jackie realized that although she didn't define her kissing Todd to be cheating in the same way Michael cheated on her, she had let Todd kiss her. Probably because she still felt insecure in her relationship with Michael, who was supposed her be her soulmate but still didn't love her enough to be faithful to her.

So she ripped out all the pages that Michael would likely drool over, then handed it to him at the Forman's barbeque that weekend. If there was a deeper issue other than cheating, then Jackie knew that time was running out for them to fix it. Already the two of them were broken up more than they were together.

But mostly because Jackie was unhappy. And tired of being that way.

"Michael, are you ready to talk?" she asked him in the hall one day during school the following week.

She had snuck up behind him while he was busy laughing with Eric and Hyde. Hyde's eyes had drifted to her for a moment, but he said nothing to Michael as Jackie approached him, so that when she did, she caught him off guard.

Michael spun around rapidly to face her. "Oh, hi Jackie." The laughter had faded from his voice entirely.

"Do you want to come over to my house and…talk after school?" Jackie pressed.

Something had changed in him, Jackie realized. Suddenly it felt like she wasn't looking into the eyes of her soulmate, her equal. The way he was looking down at her now, tense jaw and stormy eyes, well, it left chills running down Jackie's spine.

"Sure," Michael said. Then he turned his back to her once more and resumed his conversation with Eric and Hyde.

A lump caught in Jackie's throat and she made a dash for the bathroom before the choked sob could escape her throat out in the middle of the hallway, so she didn't see the way Hyde's eyes followed her down the hall until she had completely disappeared from view.

Jackie was sitting at her desk later that afternoon, just about to start painting her nails 'Poppin' Princess Pink' when Michael burst through her bedroom door and swung it shut behind him.

He stood right where he was and held up the Cosmo that she had given him. Huh, she was surprised he even pretended to read it.

"Guess what?" Michael waved the magazine in the space between them. He wasn't quite yelling, but his voice was loud, assertive. "I read your little 'Everything's My Fault' article, and I realized why I cheated. Remember the first time I kissed Pam Macy?"

Jackie was taken aback. Where was he going with this? She put down her hair brush. "Behind the gym," she sneered.

"And in the gym and in her car...but anyway." His eyes darted across the room and he marched further in. Jackie swiveled in her chair to follow him. "Earlier that day, I didn't have any money to buy you Tater Tots. And you said that I'd never be able to support you, 'cause I wasn't smart enough." Michael sat on her bed. "And you're always putting me down like that, and it makes me feel bad about myself. And that's why I cheated."

Jackie was livid. "That's the dumbest thing I've ever heard!"

Jackie knew Michael was right, to an extent. She was hard on him a lot, but it was only because he was her soulmate and she wanted him to be the best person he could be. And never mind the fact that his infidelity started long before her days of putting him on a tight leash. She had wanted to be a docile, happy girlfriend, but at some point, she'd realized that she had been putting more effort into their relationship than he had.

Jackie was about to say as much when Michael spoke again. "Just like that. And then I thought about it and I realized that I'm not sorry either."

Suddenly the walls in Jackie's room started spinning and she felt as though Michael had just socked her in the face. This was not how it was supposed to work. Why was her plan backfiring? They were supposed to work out their problems and have a happily ever after.

She struggled for words. "Michael, what are you saying?" And as she watched his face she could practically feel the entropy of their soulmate system devouring them whole.

"I'm saying that we're not right for each other, because you make me feel bad." His words were choked. "And…and…I don't think I can be with you anymore. I want to break up."

"Wait, break up?" Jackie was stunned.

Never in all the times she had broken up with Michael was it because she really and truly didn't want to be with him. He was her soulmate, of course she wanted to be with him. But now…now Michael was telling her that he no longer wanted to be with her, and Jackie didn't know what else she could do. How had this gotten worse? How could it get any worse?

"No, no. Michael I was wrong," Jackie pled. She would say anything now to at least get him to stay. "Please, let's talk about this."

"No," he seethed. He tossed her magazine on the side of her bed and made his way back to her door.

"Wait, but Michael." Jackie stood. She needed to stop him, but before she could find a way he was long gone.

She ran to the slammed door and pulled it back open. No sign of Michael. "But we're soulmates," she shouted down the empty hallway, her eyes welling with tears. "We were supposed to be soulmates."

Jackie flung herself back in her room. Angry at the world, she kicked one of her favorite flower pillows across the room. It flew into her side table, knocking off her alarm clock in the process. Jackie leaned against her door and slid down to the floor. Once there, she didn't feel small enough and ended up curled up in a ball, the tears sliding across her face and landing in droplets on the carpet that her cheek was pressed against.

From this perspective on the floor, she could read the time on her clock. She watched the next hour and a half pass, unable to will herself to move from her position on the floor and unable to stop the guttural sobs that were so deep her whole body convulsed.

She simply could not wrap her head around it. Jackie would have thought that true love and soulmates would overcome everything, even the laws of science. But yet once again, her relationship with Michael was in ruins, and by the laws of thermodynamics, there was no coming back from disorder, because that was just the thing about entropy.

It always wins.