Disclaimer: That '70s Show copyright The Carsey-Werner Company, LLC and Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment, LLC.

CHAPTER FOURTEEN
MAKING A BETTER PLAN

Jackie moved from the edge of Donna's bed to the desk chair. Donna was slapping her comforter in a syncopated rhythm, as if she were eager for gossip. The vibration had wrecked Jackie's focus, allowing Steven back inside her mind. He'd let Eric insult her in the Formans' backyard, but she shouldn't have expected differently. Steven's loyalty was to his friends, and she wasn't one of them.

"Was my question so bad?" Donna said. "Or do I, like, smell or something?"

Jackie gestured to Donna's hands. "You won't stop hitting your bed, you big goon. It's really obnoxious."

Donna's fingers curled into fists. "Sorry." She gripped the material of her jeans and glanced back at her nightstand. "So...?"

"His name is Mark—"

"Right! Mark!"

"And it's a ruse." Jackie gathered her hair at the nape of her neck. "Maintaining my level of popularity has certain requirements..." She tugged on her unfastened ponytail until her scalp stung. Even though Donna didn't go to Point Place High anymore, her boyfriend still did. "And don't you dare tell Eric, or I'll tell everyone at school you went away to have a baby."

Donna raised her hands defensively. "No need for threats. Your secret's safe with me. It's too bad about Mark, though." She looked at her nightstand again. "He seemed nice."

"He is. I wish I'd felt something when I made out with him, but—"

"He's not Kelso?"

Jackie's scalp throbbed, and she let go of her hair. From the strain, her forehead probably matched her flushing cheeks, "No," she said. "He's so much better than Michael. He's just not for me—and why do you keep staring at your nightstand?"

"I do?" Donna's own cheeks flushed, and she got off the bed. "Okay, I have to show you this." She pulled something from her nightstand drawer and placed a velvet ring box on Jackie's palm.

Jackie's skin tingled where the velvet box sat. "Eric proposed?" She pressed her free hand against her raucous, pounding heart. "Oh, God, you're getting married? To Eric?"

Donna's eyebrows drew together. "No. It's something I planned to give Eric tomorrow night, but after his attitude toward you, I'm not sure I want to."

"You're proposing to him?"

"Jackie, just open the box."

Jackie did, and her eyes widened. Set into a gold band was a chunk of black onyx, emerald-cut and bigger than a piece of Chiclet gum. It was the gaudiest ring she'd ever seen, and she plucked it from the box. "You can't give him this."

"Why not?"

"It's hideous!"

"It is not!" Donna snatched the ring and brought it to the window. Daylight gleamed on the onyx's surface. "This ring is beautiful. Eric and I have come so far, and I wanted to get him something to celebrate that."

"If you say so, but if you give Eric that thing, you'll be forcing him to lie to you."

"Because...?"

"He won't want to hurt you."

Donna strode back to the desk and grabbed the ring box. She put the ring inside it and snapped it shut. Her jaw clamped shut just as tightly. Her temple twitched, but she sank onto her bed and said, "You think so?"

"Yeah." Jackie wiggled her fingers. "Have looked at his hands? How do you think that clunker would sit on his bony finger?"

"Oh, man..." Donna tapped the ring box. "He'd probably strain a tendon wearing this."

"So return it and buy me something pretty."

"That's not gonna happen."

Jackie leaned back in the desk chair and tapped her foot on the floor. Her influence on Donna used to be strong, but Donna had spent too much time away from her. "Fine. Give him the ring, and when you get into one of your usual misunderstandings with him, don't come crying to me."

"I meant I'm not buying you anything." Donna held up the ring box. "I'm definitely returning this. But I thought since my dad wears man-rings, and Hyde wears a ring, Eric might..."

"No," Jackie whispered. "No, no, no." She got off the chair and joined Donna on the bed. "Your dad's got meaty hands, and Steven's got big, masculine ones. They're built for man-rings."

"So what am I gonna do? Eric defied his parents for me and flew all the way to California. He spent the last two weeks biking twenty miles a day just to pick me up from school. I need to show him how much I love and appreciate him."

Jackie dropped her gaze to a rumpled part of Donna's comforter. Michael's most romantic gesture was kissing her instead of another girl. She'd granted him permission to kiss someone else. It was supposed to be her penance for kissing the manager of the Cheese Palace. It was meant to put her and Michael back on equal footing, and he'd chosen to kiss her instead.

Her desperation to keep him had corroded her logic. He'd cheated on her countless times, yet she'd believed she owed him a free pass to kiss another girl.

"Eric's a good boyfriend," she said and lifted her gaze. "And I know exactly what you should do: drive up to Quartz Falls on Friday after school."

"I can't take my dad's car for the weekend," Donna said, but a smile surfaced on her lips. "And isn't it, like, a six-hour drive?"

"Borrow my car. I'll photocopy the list of what the school told us to bring on the trip. You just need to get the driving directions."

Donna's chest rose and fell with quick breaths. "I can do that. The bookstore at the mall has all kinds of maps." She inhaled a slower, deeper breath. "Am I really gonna do this?"

Jackie patted Donna's wrist. "Yes, Donna. You are."

"What about my dad?"

"Lie. Tell him I'm not going on the trip and that you're spending the weekend with me."

"And when he calls up your parents—"

"They'll have no idea I went anywhere," Jackie said. "My parents have been so busy lately they don't even know about the Quartz Falls trip. And they'll be out of town starting Monday. They won't get back until Sunday night."

Donna pressed her lips together. She didn't appear convinced, but Jackie's parents had decided to go on a relationship-building vacation together. It should've offered her some hope, but her mom owed her dad a dozen confessions. Any one of them would trigger divorce proceedings.

"Trust me," Jackie said. " They're not that observant." A chill shuddered through her. She'd inherited the same lack of perceptiveness. Otherwise, she never would've dated Michael or forgiven him ... or gone back to him. "Donna, listen. If you really want something, you have to go for it." She picked up the ring box and tossed it near Donna's leg. "It's not just gonna fall into your lap—unless it's Fez you want."

"Eric flew over two-thousand miles for me," Donna said. "I can drive six—no, twelve—hours for him. And maybe he'll drive home with me. If Hyde and Fez cover for him, the teachers won't notice his absence from the bus, but..."

She bit into her thumb nail, but Jackie urged her to continue. "If my dad finds out I ran off again," Donna said, "he'll ground me for the rest of the school year."

"He won't find out. I'm sure the campgrounds have phones somewhere. If I have to bribe someone to let us use them, I will. A few calls home, and your dad'll be convinced."

Donna laughed. "I can't believe how generous you're being. It's like a brand new you."

Heat stung Jackie's cheeks again, and she hopped off the bed. "Really, Donna?" She grabbed a framed picture of Mr. Bonkers from the desk and held it in front of her. "Who's the one who got you to forgive Eric for killing your cat?" She put the picture back on the desk. "Who helped you start a relationship with him in the first place? Who took your side after you two broke up?"

"Okay, Jackie, I get it."

"Do you?" Jackie gestured to herself. "Do you see me? I mean really see me?"

"'Brand new you' was a dumb thing to say. I'm sorry." Donna stood up and stepped toward her. "I guess Eric's not the only one who doesn't give you enough credit sometimes." She rubbed Jackie's arm. "Why don't you come to the basement?"

Jackie pushed her tongue against her teeth and said nothing.

"I'll make sure Eric behaves."

"I can't." The basement was full of people Jackie had no desire to see.

"Look," Donna said, "I know what it's like to see an ex. Eric and I were broken up for a year, and I never stopped loving him. I just didn't know how to be with him. I didn't think I could be with him—"

"Donna—"

Donna kept on talking, and Jackie bit the inside of her cheek. She angled her head to the right, and Donna's Led Zeppelin poster captured her attention. Steven loved that band. He'd played its records while he taught her chess, and she'd begun to like the music, too. Especially the band's romantic songs, but lately she changed the radio station whenever the band's music came on.

A tap on her shoulder jarred her from her thoughts. "Are you even listening?" Donna said.

"Not really."

"Jackie, this important. I'm trying to help you." Donna grasped both of Jackie's hands. "Avoiding Kelso is just gonna let you idealize him again. Your feelings for him are obviously really strong—"

Jackie freed her hands and slapped Donna's arm. "I don't have feelings for Michael."

Donna clutched her arm protectively, but it was covered by a long sleeve. Jackie's strike couldn't have hurt, unlike Donna's total lack of understanding. Jackie had no illusions left about Michael. No one's happiness was important to him but his own.

"You got rid of the presents Kelso gave you,'" Donna said, "but that doesn't mean you got rid of how you feel. I convinced myself I was over Eric, and I so wasn't."

"I'm not you," Jackie said, "and Eric's not Michael. Eric never cheated on you. When you dated Casey, Eric tried to let you go. Michael's..." Her legs were shaking, and she dropped onto the desk chair. "He's with Valerie officially. Probably not faithfully, and he's acting like me dating someone else is a crime. Not that I actually am, but he doesn't know that."

She stared at her hands. They were shaking, too, and her voice started to waver. "He's being a possessive jerk about Mark, a boy who means nothing to him. But what if I dated Fez? What would Michael do then, threaten Fez until he broke up with me?"

"You like Fez?"

"No! I just—" Shivers erupted beneath Jackie's skin, but she was done cowering. She forced herself to stand. "Michael doesn't own me. No one does." She charged into the hallway. "Despite what you think, I am over him."

Donna sped after her. "Where are you going?"

"To the basement," Jackie said. To show Donna who she really was.