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

CHAPTER TWENTY
PUNCHING BRUISES

Jackie enjoyed gossip, but after exchanging two hours of it, she was done. She'd played musical chairs with the cheer squad and other popular girls, switching bus seats whenever someone shared a rumor. The first twenty minutes, however, had been about her. Girls sat next to her in turn, asking about her fainting spell. How come Michael was the one who'd found her? Were they sleeping together behind Valerie's back? Who took her home?

Before the summer, she would've thrived on the attention. But she gave boring answers, eliciting dull stares, and the interest in her withered.

Currently, Susan Amborn was finishing a story she'd heard about Ms McGee, the calculus teacher, flirting with senior boys. Susan kept her voice to a whisper since Ms. McGee was on the bus with them. The story began to veer into other teacher happenings, and Patty Frumkin disrupted her with an, "Oh, my God!"

It was a signal that Patty had a reputation-ruiner to spill, but unlike Susan, Jackie didn't move from her seat. She stayed in her spot by the window, gazing at copper-leafed trees and thinking of Steven.

Only a half-hour remained until lunch. The junior and senior buses would pull off the highway to a fast-food place. Then she and Steven could exchange glances or share a touch as they crossed paths.

Making out with him, though, that would be a dream: leaning against one of those trees outside, their hands and lips warming each other in the autumn air, but her thoughts splintered. Her thigh was burning, as if someone had slapped it, and Julie said beside her, "Jackie, did you hear me?"

"If I'd heard you, I would have answered," Jackie said and rubbed the top of her stinging leg. Julie had dropped onto her bus seat, maybe over a minute ago, but Jackie's mind had been elsewhere. "What is it?"

"Why didn't you tell anyone that Ft. Blanderson was going to be at the park with us?"

"Because I didn't know?"

"Come on. Surely your boyfriend told you."

Jackie huffed out a breath. Julie obviously hadn't heard Ms. McGee's announcement properly. "He had nothing to tell me since he won't be there. Mark's a senior, not a freshman."

"Older boys..." Julie leaned her head on the seat. Her blond hair curled over her cheeks, and she said nothing else. She was probably fantasizing.

Jackie tried to return to her own fantasy, but Paula Becker gasped in the seat ahead of them. The sound captured the focus of other cheer squad members. Julie sat up straight, but she turned her back to the bus aisle. "I don't have much time," Julie whispered, "but I have to talk to you about this before I die."

Jackie groaned. "No more gossip." She bent down toward her makeup case. It was under the seat in front of her, and she'd stuck a Cosmo Magazine inside it. Other magazines were in her suitcase, but that was in the bus's luggage compartment. She should have brought a backpack like Steven. She'd grossly overestimated the entertainment value of discussing rumors.

"This isn't gossip. In fact..." Julie inched closer to Jackie, "I need you to keep this to yourself. If anyone can, it's you."

She glanced over her shoulder, and Jackie followed her gaze. The cheer squad seemed wholly wrapped up in whatever Paula had to say.

"Maybe it's because you're dating someone from a rival school," Julie went on, "but you've been … different lately. I don't think Valerie's noticed yet, but you might want to turn up the attitude." She snatched a compact from Jackie's makeup case. Julie's makeup was usually impeccably applied, never too much mascara or blush, but her cheeks appeared pinker than usual. "Anyway, in return for that warning, I'm sure you'll keep what I have to say private. "

She opened the compact and checked her reflection. Her fingers brushed through her hair, pulling her curls over her cheeks. Whatever Julie was hiding, it was big. Not pimple-big but personal-big, and Jackie clutched the shooting star pendant through her shirt. She'd put on Steven's gift to her shortly after boarding the bus, but Julie would assume she was covering her heart in anticipation.

Julie snapped the compact shut and returned it to Jackie's makeup case. "I'm in love," she whispered, softer than before, and Jackie strained to hear her, "with Steven Hyde."

"What?" Jackie said. Her own voice rang in her ears, and she spoke more quietly. "You are not."

"I am." Julie cupped her denim-clad knees and lowered her head. "I've had a crush on him since middle school. He acts like this aloof asshole—and he kinda is if I'm being totally honest—but he also protected me when I first got to Old Maine."

Jackie squeezed the pendant tighter. Julie could've been a spy, ordered by Valerie to gather intel. To tell a bullshit story about Steven and observe Jackie's reaction.

Her pulse pounded against her knuckles as she held the pendant, but Julie hadn't told her enough yet. She needed to hear more, and she said, "Go on."

"I wear contacts, have since eighth grade," Julie said, "but I used to wear glasses. I was a total four-eyes, and Neil Rooney knocked them—" her hand sliced through the air, "BAM! Straight off my face. He threatened to break them, too. I don't know when that psycho became Destroy. Maybe he killed his twin in the womb." She dug her nails into her knees. "But Steven got to my glasses first and made sure Neil never bothered me in middle school again."

She heaved out a breath as the bus drove over something bumpy. Either the highway needed some repair, or a dead squirrel was now flat as a sheet.

"I've thought about him a lot since then." The corner of Julie's mouth rose in a half-smile. "Steven's the opposite of almost everyone else in my life. It gets tiring being mean for the sake of reputation, but Steven..." Her half-shrug matched her smile. "He helps out the bony nerdy guy, the weird foreign guy, and Poor Little Miss Popular whose parents are never around—"

Jackie's hand began to shake. She let go of the pendant, but Julie couldn't be talking about her. No one but Steven and Donna knew about her parents' absences.

"His beard gave me the perfect cover," Julie said. "He became foxier over the summer. Valerie couldn't deny it, and going after him hurt my popularity only a little."

"But it did hurt your cheer performance," Jackie said. "You called him a low-class, good-for-nothing dickhead."

Julie's gaze hardened. "Because he ran off after working me up! I haven't been … satisfied by a boy in forever, but I hoped fooling around with him would lead to more. He has a one-week-only policy. Did he mention that to you?"

Jackie shook her head, in both a no and false disdain. Julie's feelings appeared sincere, but Jackie wouldn't risk falling for a scheme. Any true information she gave up could be used against her.

"It sounds awful," Julie continued, "but it's really not. He's upfront about everything, and I'm very good at giving head. If he'd just let me show him, I bet he'd extend that one week into a relationship."

She giggled conspiratorially. Jackie tried to giggle with her, but it came out as a grunted growl. No one on the bus seemed to care about their conversation. Their attention was elsewhere, but Jackie felt watched anyway, like Valerie could see through Julie's eyes and hear through her ears.

Julie touched Jackie's wrist. "I'm going to try again. I came on too strongly the first time." She ran her palm up Jackie's arm. "You must have some insight about how I can cozy up to him. You two have hung out the last few years because of Michael, right?"

Jackie withdrew her arm from Julie and grabbed the Cosmo from her makeup case. She searched it for a flirtation quiz, anything that might get her out of advising Julie directly, but none of the articles fit the situation.

"I've got it!" Julie said, clapping once. "Oh, this is good. He learned Kat Peterson's sob story, and she got what she needed from him. I'll tell him mine, and we'll be making love under the stars before this trip is over."

Jackie's throat closed up. Julie was not allowed to make love to Steven. She wasn't allowed to give him head or get cozy with him. Jackie grasped the chain of her necklace, intending to pull out the pendant and tell Julie the truth: Steven was her boyfriend. He'd laughed about it with her yesterday on her bed. Propped himself up on her pillows and held her while she she sat against his chest.

"Can't believe this shit is happening," he'd said, but his grin was perceptible in his voice. "We haven't even taken a test drive yet."

"Test drive? I'm not a car, Steven."

"Look, this is gonna sound bad any way I say it, but I didn't expect the girl I fell for to be someone I hadn't fucked yet."

His arms were crisscrossed her stomach. She slid her palms over them, over his muscles and warmth. "You're right. It does sound bad."

His sigh heated her cheek and disturbed a few strands of her hair. "Every chick I called a girlfriend was either someone I'd nailed or was trying to nail. You and me, closest we got to a make-out was that kiss on your car."

"Who's fault is that?" She caressed his knuckles with her thumbs. "We could be making out right now instead of just sitting here."

"That all this feels like to you?"

She shut her eyes at the pain in his voice. She'd hurt him. Unintentionally, but he was opening up to her, trusting her with what he probably hadn't told anyone.

"No," she said and hugged his arms against her body. "This feels like something that'll rip me apart if I lose it."

"Jackie..." he hooked his chin over her shoulder, "you're my girl." His beard scratched against her cheek, but he pressed a kiss into her jaw and held her tighter. "My girlfriend, man. The word meant nothin' to me before you."

Her pulse had quickened then and roared in her ears, like twenty-thousand football fans cheering for their team. Being with her must have been on his mind a long time. Otherwise, he wouldn't have given her a title so fast. "If I'm your girlfriend," she said, "then you're my boyfriend."

He chuckled by her ear. "Guess I am."

"And I didn't even have to blackmail you into saying it."

His chin left her shoulder as his chest bounced against her back. He was full-on laughing. "I'm sure you'll figure out somethin' else to blackmail me for."

She'd laughed with him, but she wasn't laughing now. Julie had begun to construct a tragic story to lure Steven. She backtracked and changed details, recited them again.

Jackie released the necklace. Her relationship with Steven was too new, too vulnerable to be out in the open. Their relationship might not survive the assault if Julie's feelings for him were genuine—if she, Valerie, and Michael all went on the attack.

But Jackie wasn't defenseless. She smacked Julie's leg with her rolled-up Cosmo, and Julie stopped talking. Jackie made a show of checking the seats around them. The cheer squad, like the rest of the juniors appeared restless. Hunger was setting in, and no one questioned that Julie and Jackie had shared a seat for longer than ten minutes.

"Your story sounds great," Jackie said, "and Steven might even be swayed by it, enough to let you give him one of your fall-in-love-with-me blow jobs."

Julie placed her hands over her heart. "You think so?"

"But you've got a bigger obstacle than catching his interest." Jackie lowered her voice to a whisper. "Valerie cornered Steven on Monday and practically had sex with him against his locker."

Julie's pink cheeks flushed more intensely. "They stripped naked in public?"

Jackie gestured dismissively with the rolled-up Cosmo. "Valerie's too smart for that. Their clothes were on, but when that wasn't enough for her... " She mimed unzipping a fly and used the Cosmo to simulate giving a hand job. "Very sneaky, that one."

"Where—where did you hear this from?"

"I can't divulge my source, but it's reliable."

Julie's fists shook as she inhaled a few quick breaths. "That bitch! She chose him on purpose. To hurt me!"

"I know, I know." Jackie rubbed Julie's arm with forced empathy. "But you've got the means to blackmail her. She won't be pleased if her boyfriend, the homecoming king to her queen, finds out she's cheating on him. Especially not with Steven." She laughed once. "Trust me."

"That's right!" Julie pressed her fist to her mouth and nodded. "I've got her."

Jackie lowered her head, covering her smirk with her hair. If Julie and Valerie stayed true to their natures, Jackie wouldn't have to do much but stand back as they tore each other apart.

The Waupaca Fatso Burger had four-times the seating capacity of the one in Point Place. That was largely due to the outdoor seating area, which wrapped around the building. Despite the cold weather, many seniors and juniors chose to sit outside. Hyde and his friends, though, opted for a table inside the restaurant. Forman wanted to hash things out with Kelso, who agreed only if they ate indoors.

"I don't like being called tiny," Forman said after apologizing, "or scrawny or dainty—"

Hyde laughed along with Fez and Donna. Most of his focus had been on the cheer squad's table since he sat down, but the word dainty had gotten to him.

"And burning your sister for her weight is both hypocritical and insensitive," Forman said over their laughter. "Again, I'm sorry."

Donna hiccuped a chuckle. "He really is sorry, Kelso. He's apologized, like, ten times. He doesn't do that unless he means it."

"Fine," Kelso said. "Just be nice to my sister."

Forman went into a sales pitch about his honor, but Hyde's attention returned to the cheer squad. His friends were distracted, and his shades were on his face. Only someone with ESP would realize his intention: doing a visual check of Jackie. Nurse Davenport said concussion symptoms could show up days after head trauma. Jackie had fainted about twenty-four hours ago. He needed to be sure she wasn't exhibiting any warning signs.

Jackie's back was to him, but she was clearly eating. She seemed steady on her chair, too, and deep in conversation. He couldn't tell if she had a headache, but if her mood was good enough to put up with her teammates, she had to be okay.

Hyde bit into his burger as Forman and Kelso shook hands, reaffirming their friendship. Forman had done wrong by Kelso's sister, but Kelso continually did wrong by all of them, most of all Jackie. Hyde couldn't forgive him for that, the wounds he'd caused her. Kelso demonstrated no awareness or remorse. Wailing on him never changed anything, but every second Jackie was happy without him might have some kind of effect.

An unfamiliar sensation spread through Hyde's body at the idea, opening him up and shutting him down in succession. Jackie's joy causing Kelso pain. It was justice, but it was also screwed up. He lived in a twisted dreamworld, one where he was king and only his desires mattered. People who deprived him the smallest speck of pleasure earned the guillotine—

Fez nudged Hyde's shoulder and pointed ahead of them, between where Forman and Kelso sat. "Do you think Julie will give me a chance?"

Valerie and Julie had left the cheer squad's table. They were advancing on Hyde and his friends. Hyde kept eating like their presence meant nothing to him, but Fez said, "Hello, Julie. Your hair looks lovely today.. Is that Wildflower perfume I smell, Julie? Because it's driving me wild."

Julie waved at him to move over. He was sitting on the banquette next to Hyde, and he gave Julie enough room to squeeze between them. Hyde's stomach clenched, but he continued to eat. Whatever devious shit these cheerleaders had hidden in their pom-poms, they wouldn't splatter it on him.

Kelso pushed back his chair and welcomed Valerie onto his lap. "Hey, baby," he said, and they began to make out.

"Oh, God," Donna said. "This is California all over again."

Julie stole a French fry off Hyde's tray and jabbed it at his face. "You shaved? I'm disappointed," she said with a frown, but he swallowed his gut reaction. Being an ass to her wouldn't make the situation better. "But at least there's an upside." She popped the fry into her mouth and smoothed her hand over his cheek. "I get to see more of you."

"Damn it, Hyde—you already stole my potential girlfriend!" Fez said, but Hyde's skin prickled at Julie's touch. She was acting too familiarly with him, and he turned his face from her.

"Steven, you don't have to be shy with me," Julie said. "I forgive you."

He shut his eyes. He'd messed with her, and now she was messing with him in front of his friends.

"What exactly is going on here?" Forman said.

"I can tell you," Valerie said, and Hyde opened his eyes. She'd quit kissing Kelso to play Julie's sick game of darts, and Hyde was the bull's eye.

He swallowed some Coke. Chess was his game, not darts. Protecting the king often meant sacrificing other pieces. Valerie and Julie could have one of his rooks, but he'd still have the advantage. "Got to third with Julie," he said. "Left before I finished the job."

Donna blinked, and Forman tilted his head as if he were puzzled. Kelso laughed with a mouth full of hamburger, but Fez said to Julie, "I would finish."

"That's all right," Julie said. "But, Steven, since we're sharing, why don't we share it all?"

She wasn't looking at Hyde but at Valerie, and Valerie hopped off Kelso's lap. "Michael," Valerie said and grasped Kelso's wrist, "we're going to the bathroom."

"But I wanna hear the rest of this."

"Bathroom break. Now."

"So bossy!" Kelso shouted, but as Valerie dragged him toward the restrooms, he gave the table a thumbs-up. He probably thought toilet-stall sex was imminent, but he and Valerie hadn't gotten past second base according to him. She was following a deliberate timeline for their physical relationship, and it had to do with Jackie. She'd admitted as much to Hyde in the school cafeteria. Valerie was after his girl, but she wouldn't get her.

"So, Julie..." he said, and his arm slid over the top of the banquette and behind her back. He wasn't touching her, but the move had created an intimate space between them. "You know what Valerie did."

She nodded, and Forman said, "What did Valerie do?"

Hyde moved a little closer to Julie. His friends could listen in, but he wouldn't let them participate. This was a two-person match. "Gives you some leverage."

"It does," she said.

"Cool." He smiled insincerely, and she smiled back, but it wasn't rah-rah cheerleader. Her smile appeared genuine.

"Hyde," Donna said, "remember our little discussion at the DMV—"

He signaled for her to be quiet. If Donna spouted what she believed about him and Jackie, she'd be handing Julie a relationship-killing machine gun.

Donna glanced at the cheerleaders' table and stood up with her tray. "You're being a jackass, Hyde, and I'm eating the rest of my food outside."

She headed for Fatso Burger's side door, and Forman joined her. Fez, though, remained seated on the banquette, despite that he'd inhaled his lunch like a whale sucked in plankton. He tapped Julie on the shoulder, and she gave Hyde an annoyed look. Hyde offered a sympathetically irritated one in return. She had to think he was on her side.

"What?" she said to Fez.

"Why are you wasting time with that non-finishing sonuvabitch? I would do so many things to you, and I'd finish every single one."

"Nice, Fez," Hyde muttered. If Julie weren't between them, he'd frog Fez's arms until they were living bruises. Fez wouldn't be able beat himself off for a month. "Go check on Jackie, would ya?"

"Ai, Jackie. Yes."

Fez grabbed his tray and left the table. He tossed his trash into a nearby garbage can, and Jackie looked up at him when he reached her. But Julie cupped Hyde's chin and pulled his gaze back to her. "You care about Jackie?" she said.

"Had to get Fez to give us some privacy," he said. It was exactly the opposite of he'd planned to do this trip, but he was up against unpredictable players. His s strategy had to be fluid "Kid sort of worships her, so..."

Julie released his chin. "I understand. Cheerleaders are often worshiped. It's the price we pay for being so incredibly talented."

She swiped his pop, and as she drank from his straw, a shiver crept up his spine. Most people reacted to his emotional distance in kind, but not her. Had to be a trait taught at cheer camp: persevere no matter the odds of winning.

"Some 'price,'" he said. "Can't tell me you don't love it."

She put down his pop and licked her top lip. "Of course, but it also makes it hard to distinguish who adores us for the glamor and who adores us for us."

Another shiver pushed through him. This set-up was giving him déjà vu. He withdrew his arm from the top of the banquette, opening the space between him and Julie, and he scratched the back of his head. His fingers got caught between clumps of curls, but he'd teased out the problem in front of him: Julie reminded him of Jackie, during her lovesick octopus phase last year.

"I made the public private a few minutes ago," he said quietly, even as the chatter in Fatso Burger grew louder. Everyone in the place was competing to be heard over one another, but if they all lowered their voices, they wouldn't have to shout. "Surprised you didn't freak out."

She fluffed her hair like Jackie sometimes did. "I'm surprised your friends hadn't already heard about it. Anyone who matters in our school has. I told Valerie, and you can guess what happened next."

He could, and he removed his shades. She needed to see his eyes, that he meant what he was about to say. "I'm really sorry for hurting you, man. I started somethin' I shouldn't have."

"I'm disappointed, not hurt, but I should be used to it. A lot of people have disappointed me in my life..." She lowered her head, and her blond curls covered most of her face. "My parents. My sister. My best friend from grade school. I'm like Cinderella. I do, and I do, and I do, and all I get in return is ashes. I've never found my lost glass slipper, Steven, and I—"

"Holy hell." He began to laugh and put his shades on again. "You're gonna have to do better than that."

Her head popped back up. "What?"

"Your story. You're trying to get me to feel bad for you, but you're so full of shit I'm chokin' on the stink."

"I..." Her cheeks flushed. "You really don't remember me."

He squinted as he searched through his skull. She'd made a similar claim a few weeks ago in the school parking lot.

She circled her eyes with her thumbs and forefingers. "Glasses. Old Maine."

He flinched as a dagger of ice pierced his forehead. "Julia Falk..." Julie Ghoulie, the nerd girl he used to protect in middle school. "No fuckin' way." He looked her up and down and compared the sight to the scared ten-year-old girl in his memory. "Puberty does good work, huh?"

"It certainly does." She gestured at him. "Look at you."

"Secondary burn. Not bad."

"Listen, Steven, I'm just going to come out with it." She shoved his tray forward and rested her forearm on the table. "Admitting this could mean social suicide, but I really like you. You're hot. You're sweet when you're not being a total you're completely different than what I live with everyday, and I need different."

"Different how?" His interest was purely strategic. If she was playing him, she'd have to come up with a convincing answer quickly.

"Standing out can cause problems," she said. "When I was that shy, pale four-eyes,the attention I got was mostly negative. But as assistant cheer captain, I have to deal with backbiting bitches who're all fighting for the same prize: power through popularity."

Her fingertips tapped on the table, and she inhaled deeply. "You and your friends hang out without constantly having to fight for a spot. But I've experienced how you fight to help others. Even if all you're doing is giving them a boost ... you're a kind person."

He cupped his hand over his mouth. His freshly-shaven skin was still a little sensitive, but Julie's sincerity clobbered him in the gut. Kind wasn't a word he'd ever associate with himself. He was an asshole who sometimes did right by people.

But Julie and Jackie's social scene was toxic, and Jackie's repeated escapes to the Formans' basement no longer mystified him. The cheer squad would high-kick her to a bloody pile if she showed any bit of vulnerability. She'd found a space for herself where she could just be, and Julie wanted to do the same.

"Do you have a thing for Valerie?" she said. He'd been quiet too long, but he shook his head no. "Why do you have a one-week-only policy with girls?"

He forced himself not to look at the cheer squad's table. "Relationships ain't me, man."

"So far ... but that could change." She hooked a finger around one of his curls and separated it from the rest of his hair. "Kind and hot don't usually go together in guys."

He grasped her hand and pulled it from his head. She had to quit touching him, but her fingers wrapped around his palm. He'd been through this before, with Jackie. Wriggling free would only make Julie more determined to hold on. He had to convince her to let him go.

"I'm not freakin' kind," he said. "You should know that, considering what happened between us."

"You're right. Kind is the wrong words. Caring is more precise."

Her grip on his hand grew tighter, and she moved her face closer to his. Her lips were puckering. She was going in for a damn kiss, and he scooted backward on the banquette.

She stumbled but caught herself on the table. The shock on her face matched his frenzied pulse rate, and he shifted his gaze to Jackie. She had to be doing okay, or else Fez would've run to Hyde in a panic. But Fez still sat next to her, and the cheer squad seemed to be laughing with him, not at him. He must've come up with some killer puns.

"What am I doing wrong?" Julie said. "You should be making out with me, not cowering against the wall."

Her grip on Hyde's hand weakened, enough that he shook her loose. "Cut the crap, and you'll get yourself a good guy, all right?" He wiped his sweaty palm on his jeans and controlled his breathing. "It's just not gonna be me."

She opened her mouth to speak, but he said, "You've got it in you to be honest, man. Maybe try to find someone outside your social group. Outside our school."

"Like Jackie did."

"Have no idea about that."

"Oh, she's dating a Leif Garret look-a-like from Ft. Blanderson." She pressed her lips together, squeezing the color out of them. "Lucky bitch. He's a fox."

"If Jackie can do it, so can you."

"How?" she said.

A faint throb set into his temples, but it exploded into a skull-busting headache as Coach Ferguson blew on his whistle. He was standing in the middle of the restaurant, and he shouted, "This is your ten-minute warning! Finish your food. Go to the bathroom if you have to. Just be ready for another three hours on the road!"

Hyde indicated for Julie to get off the banquette and let him out. He needed to piss. He needed some aspirin. Julie did as he instructed but remained in front of him. "How?" she repeated.

He cleared his throat before speaking. "What do you do besides cheerleading?"

She bounced on her heels. "My dad and I go fishing all the time. I can gut a fish, too." Her eyes flicked toward the cheer squad table. "It's not something I'd ever tell Valerie or the rest of my teammates. They'd start claiming I smell like fish, and then the football team would connect that to … well, you know. I'd be mortified off the cheer squad."

"Plenty of guys like to fish. Start with that." He tried to skirt around her, but she was nimble on her feet. "Freakin' cheerleader..." he muttered, but he needed to take gym class more seriously. Smoke less pot. Work on his reflexes.

She stuck out her chin defiantly. "I'm more than a cheerleader."

"Now you're getting it."

Her forehead wrinkled, but after a second her face brightened, and she shouted. "I'm more than a cheerleader!"

He nodded, in both approval and exasperation. "Great. I gotta take a leak, so..." He waved at her to get out of his way.

She clasped his shoulder instead and pecked him on the cheek. "Thank you, Steven," she said and finally left, giving him an open path to the restroom and, maybe, the rest of his damn life.

Jackie grasped the edge of her table and stayed seated. Following Steven to the restrooms would tip off her savvier teammates, but her bones were melting into soup. He and Julie had talked for ten minutes. The glimpses Jackie had stolen of them were more than bad. They were incriminating. He'd kept his arm around her practically the whole time, held her hand, acted cozy with her.

And he'd let Julie kiss him. On the cheek, but it was still a kiss.

Steven was playing someone, but Jackie couldn't be sure whom, and she despised herself for it. Yesterday, he claimed he trusted her. This morning, he gave her the shooting star pendant. Not long ago, he sent Fez over to check on her. Or to distract her while he fell for Julie's tragic life story. If so, he'd dump Jackie the first moment they had alone.

"Jackie, you said you were feeling fine," Fez said beside her. "You're all pale and sweaty."

"I am fine. I just have to go to the bathroom."

"You want one of us to go with you?" Leslie said. "In case you faint again?"

Jackie stood from the table. "I'm perfectly capable of going to the bathroom by myself."

"That is a first," Fez said. "You always bring a girlfriend with you."

"To talk, but I actually have to go."

She hurried to the restrooms without further explanation, not caring what rumors started because of it. She needed one moment with Steven, a shared blink, but two broad-backed men got in front of her. They weren't from school, and they lumbered toward the men's restroom like a pair of trucks running on fumes.

Squeezing between them wasn't an option. They'd squash her flat. Passing them wouldn't work either. A tide of boys was flowing to and ebbing from the men's restroom.

She veered to the right, toward the restaurant's side exit. It gave her a better vantage point, but as she waited, Coach Ferguson blew on his whistle.

"Three minutes!" he shouted, shifting her priorities. Taking the opportunity to pee was more urgent than seeing Steven. They hadn't entered their relationship blindly. They were both aware of their injured trust, but she hadn't expected her bruises to be punched so early, before she and Steven had even kissed.