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

CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
SCABBING OVER

The senior and junior classes were split into four mixed and mostly even groups. Each had its own trail guide and a teacher to babysit it, but the first and last ones would be policed the most. Coach Ferguson and Ms. McGee were the chaperones. Not optimum for Hyde's plans. He needed freedom of movement.

The middle groups, however, had the more lax Mrs. Fletcher and Mr. Wilcox. They'd probably let students wander in and out, and Hyde slipped into Mr. Wilcox's troop.

His friends must've had the same idea because they joined him. His attention, though, was on the group ahead of him, monitored by Mrs. Fletcher. Cheerleaders filled it, wearing their rainbow-colored jackets. Jackie had to be there, and his agenda included getting cozy with her. The nature trail began a mile from the campsite. That would make this morning's hike a four-miler altogether, plenty of distance to steal a moment or three with his chick.

But the starting times were staggered. Hyde's group moved forward only once Mrs. Fletcher's disappeared in the distance. Jackie was five minutes away, and he adjusted his backpack straps as memories of her saturated his body. She'd shivered in his arms last night, enough to scare him.

"Do you smell that?" Fez inhaled noisily beside him. "It is the smell of Christmas."

"It's the smell of my mom's dusting spray," Forman said and shined up his Quartz Falls badge. It was the size of a quarter and pinned to the lapel of his coat. It designated him as a wilderness guide assistant, a fact he hadn't shut up about since getting the badge.

Donna gestured to the surrounding pine trees. "It's the smell of nature, but do you hear that? The falls must be close."

"Actually," Forman said, "we'll be able to hear both the Quarts Falls and the Rainbow Cascades during the entire hike." He tapped his badge. "The amount of force they put out is incredible, and yet electric companies couldn't harness it, thanks to the unpredictable daily highs and lows of the Trumpeter River, into which both falls flow—"

Hyde frogged Forman's shoulder, and Forman ended his speech with a yelp.

"Looks like Hyde just harnessed the power of his fist," Donna said and laughed. "Eric, I get that you're into this whole Cub Scout thing, but could you maybe take it down a notch?"

"Okay..." Forman grasped his shoulder protectively. "Then I won't mention how Hyde's boots are going to give him a ton of blisters today." He grinned smugly. "That's right, buddy. Your feet are gonna be in a truck-load of pain by the end of this hike."

"Ai, you idiot," Fez said and frowned at Hyde. "Your boots are not built for trails. Why did you not wear sneakers?"

"Don't own any." All Hyde had now were two pairs of boots, one from his uncle and the other from Jackie. His only pair of sneakers, a requirement for gym, officially croaked on Monday. The right one had a hole in the toe, and the left's sole was falling off. He'd have to buy a new pair, but most of his dough went to paying the Formans rent. The rest he spent on gas and grass, and with Jackie as his girl, he'd have to spend some on her ass, too.

Forman's grin faded. He seemed worried, and that was worse than being subjected to his ego.

"I'll be fine," Hyde said. "Worn these boots for over a year. They're broken in. If I get a few blisters, I'll swipe Band-Aids from you. Your mom packed you a first aid kit. Don't try to deny it."

"Yeah." Forman's gaze roamed Hyde's body, as if checking for parasites, and it landed on Hyde's right hand. Hyde's coat and shirt sleeves had risen up his arm, probably when he'd frogged Forman. He tugged them back down, but Forman said, "How'd you get that scab?"

Hyde rolled his tensing shoulders. This was not where he'd wanted the conversation to go, but Forman was already rummaging in his backpack.

"Now let's see that wrist mister," Forman said after pulling out a Band-Aid and a spray bottle of Unguentine. He sounded just like his mom, whom Hyde would've obeyed. But Hyde shoved his hand into his coat pocket. Kids from school crowded them on all sides. Having Forman play nursemaid to him would screw his rep.

"You wanna be Florence Nightingale, go bother people with scrapes on their faces. Some are pretty nasty."

"That thicket did claim a few casualties yesterday," Donna said. "Patty Frumkin got hit on the cheek hard. She was bleeding like a cat had slapped her. Guess she'll be at the rear of the cheer squad this semester."

Forman held up the disinfectant spray. "Hyde?"

"Nothin' doin—"

"He said give him your wrist!" Fez shouted.

Their group was approaching the Trumpeter River. Its water was murky and flowed northward. Hyde considered bolting, diving into the river and seeing where it carried him. But his shitty background and shittier future prospects wouldn't be washed away, no matter how strong the current. He might've lived with Forman's family, but he still wasn't family. More like a charity case.

Forman had parents who loved him. Despite what Red said on Hyde's eighteenth birthday, they'd never let Forman drown. They'd pack him first aid kits and bail him out of jail while Hyde bled and got sent to state prison. Red had kicked Hyde out of the house once. It could happen again, and the possibility bothered him worse than it used to.

If Jackie's folks didn't get their crap together, if their relationship broke down completely, she'd lose what familial security she had left. She'd depend on Hyde to give her what her parents couldn't, and he had no way to provide it. He was running in hole-riddled sneakers with no soles.

"This isn't gonna work," Hyde said as Forman sprayed disinfectant onto Hyde's cut. Fez had yanked Hyde's hand free of his coat pocket and was acting as a nurse's aid.

"Yeah, the scab's formed," Donna said. "He needed that stuff yesterday. Just put the Band-Aid on him."

Forman slid the spray bottle into his jeans pocket and used a tissue to blot the area around Hyde's cut. "I'm a wilderness skills assistant, Donna, and I'm going to assist."

He applied the Band-Aid to the top of Hyde's wrist, and Hyde let him.

"But this afternoon, my experience will be on display," Forman said. "Ms. McGee told me there'll be a lesson on knots, and no one's better at tying knots than this guy." He jabbed his thumb at his chest. "I can't wait to get the respect this school's owed me for years."

"Oh?" Donna bent down and snatched a pebble from the river bank. They'd reached the Trumpeter, and their trail guide stopped them to share its history. "What about when you were Point Place's Most Eligible Viking?" Donna said. "You were respected by the girls, at least."

"That was for my body and charm, not my talent." Forman produced a sizable spool of rope from his backpack, and Hyde glared at him. "What? If someone falls into the river, I can knot this baby to tree and myself and save him." He stood straighter and stuck out his chin. "I'll be a hero."

Donna squeezed her temples between her thumb and forefinger and shut her eyes. "You've been hanging out with Kelso too much in my absence."

"Not really, but speaking of Kelso—" He returned the rope to his backpack, "Ms. McGee asked me a couple of strange questions about him this morning, like if Kelso was actually nineteen, if his parents were the hands-off type..."

"Weird." She chucked the pebble into the river as their group moved again. "Wonder if his new position as homecoming king has anything to do with it."

Fez kicked the dirt. "Who cares? That sonuvabitch isn't spending enough time with me on this trip. He promised he would."

Hyde offered no sympathy, but he could relate. Headache-inducing noise had accompanied the most quality time he'd gotten with Jackie so far. But without her to talk to, the sediment of his thoughts was piling up.

The roar of Quartz Falls rumbled in his chest. Foam was floating in the river, and water rushed over mossy rocks farther north. A wooden overlook allowed people to get closer. Mrs. Fletcher's group was taking advantage of it, gawking at the frothing pool below.

Hyde pushed to the front of his own group. Catching up to Jackie had become possible, but the trail guide slowed Hyde's group down. "In just a few minutes, you'll feel the power of the falls!" the trail guide shouted. "In the mid 1800s, people mined the river for precious metals. The main operation occurred between Quartz Falls and the Rainbow Cascades, but..."

The cataracts pouring over the rocks turned blood-red in Hyde's mind. Too much bullshit stood between him and Jackie, not just her social situation but his deficiencies as a human being. Valerie had turned him into an Afterschool Special, trespassing his body, forcing him to feel sensations he hadn't invited her to create.

He should have stopped her. Could have, but his need for escape had made him compliant. Culpable. It wasn't a new story.

His jaw clenched, and his heart pounded in his throat, but his name tugged his focus from the falls. Jackie was dashing toward him, a rainbow streak in that jacket of hers. He held out his hand, and she grabbed it and kept on running.

His muscles loosened up, and he raced with her through his group until they found a private spot among the trees. The closest students were at the river, skipping stones, and Mr. Wilcox had gone toward the front, presumably to listen to the trail guide.

"Steven," Jackie said breathlessly, "we're in trouble."

"Been thinkin' that myself—"

"Leslie and Valerie both have it out for me," she went on. "Or Leslie is out to get Valerie's position, which is more likely. I'm not much of a social threat, regardless of Valerie personal vendetta against me. But Leslie ordered me to 'cozy up' to you so you'll tell me who Michael's cheating on Valerie with."

His grip tightened on her hand. Her cheeks were pink, but the rest of her appeared pale in the shade. "Did you eat breakfast?" he said.

"Nothing was left. I needed to hear what Leslie—" She quit talking when his fingers sprang off her palm, and he thrust his backpack off his shoulders. "What are you doing?"

He plucked out his baggie of cookies and dropped it into her hands. "Eat."

"I'm too scared to eat."

"If I had my stash, I'd get you high enough to fix your appetite. But alls I got is please."

She stared at him with an emotion he couldn't read, but she opened the baggie and popped a cookie into her mouth. That was a better sight than the falls. She'd fainted once because of not eating. It wouldn't happen again.

"I just want this to be over," she said.

Strands of hair had rebelled against her braid. They dangled loosely over her nose, and he tucked the strands behind her ear. "So let's end it."

"I can't." She started on another cookie, and he caressed the side of her face. He had to get in as much physical contact as he could, to carry it with him. "I still have two years left at this school," she said, "and I won't be a social pariah. I have to play to win. You understand that, don't you?" She rubbed his hand as he cupped her cheek, and the contact stung a little. "Why are you wearing a Band-Aid?"

"Thicket got me yesterday. Saved Valerie from disfigurement."

She swallowed her bite of cookie loudly. "You did? Does she know?"

"Won't make a difference. But how the hell did she find out Kelso and you...?"

She glanced around their wooded area. Ms. McGee's group was approaching but slowly. "Not me," she said. "A blonde. Valerie caught them last night."

His eyebrows rose. "Now that could give you an advantage. Learning who it is'll be a cinch. Just gotta use the right bait, and Kelso'll spill the beans." He indicated the cookies. "One more."

She grunted but did as he said. "This has become bigger than us. We're in a demented chess match, but if I do have to decide between the cheer squad and you, I choose you."

"Don't." He shoved the cookies into his backpack as Ms. McGee's group got closer. He and Jackie had to blend in with his group, and he led her back to it. "You've lost enough," he said, standing close to her. "You're just gonna lose more, bein' with me."

"How can you say that?" Her voice cut through the thundering falls. "I've already gotten so much from you, and we haven't even kissed as a couple yet."

"The crap that's kept us apart, maybe it's the cosmos's way of keeping you safe, man. I'm heir to a drinking problem, not a national clothing chain. Half this summer, you were hanging out with a hangover, not me."

She clutched the lapel of his coat and forced him to face her. If anyone was watching them, he couldn't tell. The anguish in her eyes occupied his senses.

He waited for her to speak what was inside her. She remained silent, letting the falls answer him with static.

"What is it?" he said.

She shook her head slightly. "Doesn't matter."

"If you're feeling it, it matters."

Her chest rose with a sharp breath, and her fingers curled over the nape of his neck. "You've been with a lot of girls."

"Yeah...?"

"Leslie."

"Shit..." The memory was buried in his mental junkyard, rusted over with booze. "Forgot about that."

Her mouth quirked into a half-smile. "Guess the experience was more memorable for her."

"Don't tell me she's got a thing for me."

"Not even your car. Who else do I need to know about?"

"That's up to you, man." He stroked her ear with the back of his fingers. It was an intimate move, making promises he desperately wanted to keep. "Past's only important if we've got a present."

Her thumbs played with his curls. "Oh, we've got that and a future. You don't have to accept your inheritance. My grandfather was deep in debt when he died, and my mom refused to be the executor of his will. She wasn't going to pay for his mistakes, at least not the financial ones."

She looked at the falls. "Come with me," she said and took his hand again.

"You sure?"

She pulled him to the walkway that stretched over the river. It ended in a hexagonal railing, and she created space for both of them, edging students aside. Despite her orders to move, no one appeared to notice that she and Hyde were together. Students were too distracted by the falls or their own chatter.

He grasped the top of the railing. She copied the move but positioned herself so the roaring water would mask their words. Smart. Anyone trying to eavesdrop would have to stick their heads between them.

"Who I've screwed is gonna be another barricade," he said. "Being rich is your scene, not mine. Can't say I'm ambitious, either."

"Please. Having money and being successful in business are no guarantees of happiness. The Formans' house would be a disaster area without the chores you do. You cooked me those deviled eggs after hunting for the ingredients." She moved closer to the railing and leaned against it. "You've been dragged into my social mess. You're trying to help me get out of it..." She laughed. "And you say you're not ambitious."

"That's not what I'm gettin' at—"

"You work hard when it's worth it to you," she continued. "That's all I want. For being with me to be worth it to you. Because I'll work just as hard to be with you."

A lump of pain wedged in his throat. Being with her was worth more than he could quantify. He coughed to unknot his vocal chords. His sexual history wasn't a subject he talked about with anyone, but she needed him to do it. Especially after what he'd admitted to her on Tuesday.

"Biker chick named Esther," he began but someone tapped him on the shoulder, and he clamped his mouth shut.

"Quit hogging the overlook," Jimmy Headgear said behind him. His nasal voice was unmistakable.

Hyde laced his fingers with Jackie's. He wouldn't lose her, not on this trip. Not to Kelso or Valerie—and not to his own skull. The decision was carved in his chest now, and he be brought her to the thick of his group.

"She was a friend of my uncle's," he said, and Jackie hugged herself to his arm, maybe to hear him better over the falls. "She was the first. Older than me. Don't ask by how much."

"How old were you?" she said.

"Probably too young..." He angled his head up. Pine trees reached into the sky, and the sun shone through them, boiling away his hesitation. "Definitely too damn young. She initiated without asking. I gave in."

His organs seemed to shrivel with his confession. He'd never spoken his experience out loud. Never planned to. His childhood had been rough and lawless, and Esther had taken advantage of it.

"She gave me the illusion of control, and it fucked with my head. Couldn't square all the things I was feeling." The acrid memory rose through him like smoke. "A body just reacts, man. Even if the skull is screamin' for the opposite."

Jackie tightened her grip on his arm. "That's awful, Steven. That's—I'm sorry."

"It's why I waited a few years before I did it again." he said and visually checked the area for spies. If anyone had heard what was for Jackie's ears alone, he'd have to leave town. But people in his group kept their distance, as if he and Jackie were surrounded by an invisible force field.

That explanation wasn't realistic, but he wouldn't take the opportunity for granted. He and Jackie had a decent amount of space to themselves. His insides already felt clearer, cleaner, sharing some of his past. And she hadn't left his side. Not yet.

"Was your next time better?" she said, pressing her cheek into his coat sleeve.

"Loads. It was with this chick passing through Point Place. Punk rock and paranoid. My kind of girl—back then. Almost left with her to New York, but the giant rats changed my mind."

"Giant rats?"

"The Formans painted a swell image of New York. Tried to convince me not to go. They … huh." A shudder passed through him, and Jackie's embrace shifted to his waist. He held her closely in response, not caring who saw.

"Baby, are you okay?" she said. His group was on the move again, but her embrace didn't falter as they walked past the falls. "You're shivering."

"It's colder by the river," he said, but the river hadn't caused him to shake. Even if the Formans did consider him family, his faults would always cost him more. Forman and Laurie could screw up and be welcomed home. Hyde's tactical errors had irreversible consequences.

Jackie tugged on his coat pocket. "Did you ever have any droughts? Breaks where you weren't with anyone?"

"Sure. Unlike Kelso, I don't constantly gotta have my dick in a chick—" He rubbed the nape of his neck. He hadn't meant that as a burn on her, but she didn't appear to be insulted. "Had plenty of action, though. Slept with girls from others school. Women I met elsewhere … including a mail lady."

"Steven, my God!" She slapped his hip. "Why?"

His stomach contracted. "She knew how to do stuff and gave me free stamps—"

"I don't need to hear any more."

Her arms fell from his waist, and nausea rolled through him. He was who he was. He'd done what he'd done, and if that killed her idea of him, then they wouldn't have lasted anyway.

He yanked his shades from his coat pocket. He hadn't worn them all morning, but the sun had risen high enough in the sky. Was bright enough. He moved his shades toward his eyes, but Jackie grabbed his wrist.

"What I mean is you're not on trial." Her grasp was dangerously close to the Band-Aid, to his scab. She must have realized it because she released him. "When Leslie told me about you two, I got jealous, okay? I don't like that so many of my teammates have been with you." She unzipped her jacket a little, opening the collar. "But there's also that paranoid punk rocker. A kinky mail lady—and whoever else. I forgot that you had a non-Jackie life."

He held onto his shades, scratching the frame with his fingernail. "Sex was just sex, man. It felt good. Sometimes it felt bad. That's it. That's what life freakin' was..." He dropped his shades into his coat pocket. "We're getting out of this."

"So we're over." She zipped her jacket back up to her neck. "Because you think I can't handle your history? Or because I can't compete with it?"

"Hell no. We're getting out of the cheerleaders' soap opera. 'Cause we have to."

"You want me to leave the squad."

He swallowed a groan. Their conversation was exposing them on all levels, to the school, to their own weaknesses. "Didn't say that, but you need to be there on your own terms. Just like we've gotta be together on our own terms, not cowering at anyone's feet. Got it?"

Her face flushed. She wasn't crying, but his truths weren't pretty. Whether or not she accepted them remained in question, but he slid his arms around her. It was as private an embrace as he could manage in their current company. "I love you," he whispered by her ear. "Got that?"

"Mm-hmm," she said, but the tears in her voice were unmistakable. He withdrew from her, and she wiped her eyes with her jacket sleeve before bolting.

He physically staggered back at her reaction. She hadn't shared what was in her head. Just run off, but he'd finally drawn people's attention. A few passersby gawked at him, like his skin had become transparent. Or maybe it had disintegrated, unable to conceal the pain sparking in whatever was left of him.