"The greatest forces lie in the region of the uncomprehended." - George MacDonald, A Dish of Orts
o-o-o
Monday, November 14th
At school, I usually split my time between the cheerleaders and the friend group with Donna. Monday, after my disastrous date with Steven Hyde this past weekend, would obviously be a cheerleader day.
And of course, Monday morning comes impossibly fast, and as I am walking into Homeroom, I find Lisa, Jenny, and Tracy frantically waving me over to the cluster of desks that we claimed at the start of the school year. They were my fellow sophomore junior varsity cheerleaders, and they'd been my closest friends until I'd met Donna. Seeing their faces makes me immediately feel better, but still a twinge of guilt curls up my spine. We'd stopped hanging out as much when I started frequenting the Forman basement back when I dated Michael. After we broke up, I swore I'd spend more time with them, but I had quickly realized that I'd grown closer with Donna… and then there was my whole fixation on Steven. And yet here they were, eagerly waiting for me to join them every morning in Homeroom.
"Jackie, where is your uniform?" Jenny hisses nervously at me, her eyes darting around the room.
I quickly realize that I'd mistaken their expressions of alarm with those of eagerness. If they were cartoons, they'd have red sirens hovering over their heads to match their panicked expressions.
"I thought we didn't have practice today…" I start, but my voice abruptly drops off when I remember, and all of a sudden their panic makes so much more sense.
We didn't have practice today. No. We had a pep rally today. And a cheerleader not wearing her uniform on pep rally day was sacrilege. I take in my three friends, all wearing their matching Point Place High School green and white cheerleading ensembles, pom poms spilling out of their backpacks. All three of them are blond, and in their matching uniforms, they look eerily like clones.
"Pep rally," I say, bringing my hand to my mouth as I lower myself into my desk chair, letting my backpack slide off my shoulder to the ground. I land in the chair, but my heart continues to plummet right into the ground.
This time Lisa is the one to dart her eyes around the room. "Please tell me you have your uniform in your backpack and are going to go change in the bathroom right now."
I don't say anything, just lower my head on my desk. Somewhere below on the first floor of the school, my heart smashes into the ground and is likely getting stampeded by hundreds of feet. At least that's how it feels.
"Jackie, if the varsity cheerleaders catch you in plainclothes, you'll never make it to varsity next year," Tracy says anxiously. I lift my head up to look at her. She watches me, concern written all over her face. Then she suddenly grabs her backpack and stands. "And we might not either, if we are seen with you."
Jenny and Lisa gasp and stand up as well. "Good luck, Jackie," Lisa says, and the three of them dart to another end of the room to hang out with some of the junior varsity football players.
Tracy, Jenny, and Lisa were right. I needed to wear my uniform today if I had any hope of making it on the varsity team next year. I glance across the room at my friends. I couldn't blame them for ditching me. I would've done the same thing. But that didn't make their abandonment hurt any less. The three of us had been dreaming of varsity cheerleading since middle school. We'd all made junior varsity last year and couldn't wait to make varsity once we were upperclassmen. The varsity team would not look kindly on me not showing my school spirit on a pep rally day.
I was so distracted by avoiding Steven that I'd completely forgotten about today's pep rally and football game. It was one of the biggest football games of the year too, the one the week before Thanksgiving break. I basically committed cheerleader suicide and it was all Steven Hyde's fault.
And to think, five minutes ago my biggest concern was going to be how to avoid Steven at school today. I almost laugh. With my cheer uniform hanging in my bedroom closet, I might be seeking refuge with him and our other friends to avoid the wrath of the cheerleaders. The irony is not lost on me.
Such is my life.
o-o-o
I mentally chastise myself for the remainder of Homeroom for forgetting my uniform. I ultimately decide I can't blame Steven, at least not directly. So instead, I blame myself and the lack of sleep that I got this weekend. Friday night, after I got back from dropping Steven off at Bud's, I'd paced in my room for nearly an hour before calling Donna. My parents had gone to bed hours ago and the quiet and stillness of the house only bred an environment for my thoughts to run rampant, deafening me as they ricocheted around in my skull.
Fortunately, Donna picked up the phone and agreed to let me come over despite it being so late. Unfortunately, I was not expecting to run into Steven in the Forman driveway as I was heading over to Donna's.
To my surprise - after all, I had dropped him off at Bud's not the Forman's, - I spoke way out of turn, tripping over my words in an unsettling display of disgrace and humiliation as I tried to explain what exactly I was doing there so late at night.
Of course, when I'd asked Steven why he was there, he'd answered with typical Zen. I could ask you the same question.
Cue my shameful breakdown.
It's not until today at school, while I'm busy peering around every corner to avoid the varsity cheerleading squad, that it occurs to me: I never did find out why Steven was at the Forman's last night.
My immediate suspicion is that he blabbed about our date and how horrible it was. But I quickly remind myself that Steven is not Michael, and he wouldn't do that. He wouldn't say anything to anyone, which was almost even more infuriating, because that meant that I couldn't get information from any of our friends about where Steven's head was at.
I do wonder if he told Eric, though. In confidence. They were best friends, after all. And best friends tell each other those kinds of things, right? I mean, I'd fully intended to spill every last detail about the date when I saw Donna that night, until Steven told me not to forget to be Zen.
I'd immediately known what that meant. Don't forget your Zen, man was code for don't say anything to Donna about tonight. Well, message received. It had stung, but I knew he was right. If we wanted things to go back to the way they were before our date, we had to keep what happened between just the two of us.
By fifth period, I still have not run into the varsity cheerleaders. Most of the elective classes where under- and upperclassmen mixed were in the afternoon, after lunch. Which means it's been easy to avoid both the cheerleaders…and Steven.
And for the millionth time today, my thoughts bounce from cheerleading to Steven. I decide that it doesn't make sense that he went to the Forman's that night to tell Eric about our date. He hadn't wanted me to tell Donna. Which means there was no way he told Eric. So what had he been doing there?
o-o-o
My heart is pounding when I reach the Lincoln. After the fifth period bell rang, I darted out of the classroom fast to avoid the rush of students to the lunch room, and made it to my car in record time. I should stop and catch my breath, but if I have any hope of making it back to school in time before sixth period, I have to keep moving. I throw the keys into the ignition and navigate out of the parking lot.
My house isn't terribly far from school. Too far to walk, but close enough that I can realistically change into my uniform and slip back into the lunchroom without anyone noticing. The perks of having two entirely separate and isolated groups of friends? They'd each assume you were with the other when you're really nowhere to be found.
I dart up the stairs when I get home, not worried about running into anyone here. Both of my parents are at work and the maid wouldn't be by again until tomorrow morning. I quickly change into my uniform, haphazardly throwing my other clothes into my closet. It pains me to leave them in a crumpled mess on the floor, but there was no time.
I do hesitate for a moment, though, when my gaze catches on the other item I shoved back into the corner of my closet Friday night. But I swallow the lump that's rising in my throat; that was a problem for later. Right now I have to get back to school.
The good news is, I get back in time to join Lisa, Jenny, and Tracy at their table before the endo-of-lunch bell rings. The bad news is that in my hustle, I never got to eat anything for lunch and now I am pretty much starving. I eye the untouched tater tots sitting on Tracy's lunch tray. The cafeteria's tater tots sucked, but still. I was hungry.
"Oh my God, Jackie, thank God," Jenny whispers as I sit next to her. "You went home and changed."
"Yeah," I say, gasping for breath. "I had to skip lunch but at least I'm in my uniform now."
"Better hungry than endure the wrath of Varsity," Tracy chides.
I know that she's right, but I can't help but stare enviously at her tater tots.
On my other side, Lisa elbows me. "I don't know about that," she mutters under her breath.
I glance up to find Leslie Cannon, one of the varsity cheerleaders headed our way. "Girls," she says when she reaches our table. "Good to see you all ready for the pep rally after school today."
We just nod, knowing better than to speak until we are directly addressed.
Leslie's demure pleasantness disappears when her gaze lands on me. "Jackie, where are your uniform's hair ribbons?"
I reach for my hair, as if surprised not to find them there, even though I knew they were still in my backpack. I hadn't had time to put them on at home. "They must've fallen out," I say smoothly. "Good thing I carry extras in my backpack. You know, I think I'll run to the bathroom and put them on now before the bell rings."
I stand up quickly, too quickly to conceal my obvious unease and Leslie catches this. A knowing glint sparkles in her eyes and she smiles at me like I'm her prey.
"You know, Jackie," she says, her tone shifting as she crosses her arms. "I've been meaning to ask you where you got your purple sweater?"
"Purple sweater?"
"Yeah, the cable-knit cashmere one with the buttons going down the sleeves. You know which one I'm talking about, right?"
I did. It was the sweater currently laying in a heap at the bottom of my closet. I clasp my mouth shut. Leslie knows. She'd somehow seen me not in my uniform earlier. And by the triumphant look on her face, she knows that I know that she knows.
Leslie doesn't wait for my response. She just looks at my friends and smiles. "See you at the pep rally, JV!" Then she turns, purposefully smacking her ponytail into my shoulder, and disappears right as the bell rings.
I watch my friends rise, hating their sympathy and pity more than I hated their abandonment earlier this morning. Nobody pitied Jackie Burkhart. But then I watch as Tracy wordlessly dumps her completely untouched tater tots in the trash can and am filled with white hot anger. Because the only thing worse than being pitied by others was self-pity, and I refused to let myself stoop to that level.
"See you after school," I tell my friends in the most unfriendly way possible.
I dart out of the lunch room, and in my fury I nearly miss it when I bump right into Donna. She actually grabs my arm before I turn the corner, which effectively tames some of my anger.
"Hey, Jackie." Donna turns me to face her. "Where's the fire?"
"Oh, hey, Donna. I didn't see you there." I feel my temper relaxing. Donna was one of the few people that I wasn't currently enmeshed in a tension-filled relationship with at this very moment. In fact, she'd been a rock when I'd shown up as a completely erratic mess late Friday night.
Thinking back on it now, I probably had left Donna very confused that night. When I'd called Donna, I'd been frantic, talking a hundred miles a minute, although I never once brought up Steven's name. No, I couldn't do that until I was face-to-face with her.
"Jackie, I have no idea what is going on with you." Donna's voice had come through the speaker, laced with annoyance and confusion.
"I know," I'd sighed. I'd taken a deep breath, deciding then that I needed to tell Donna about Steven. "I'll explain everything. But I need to come over."
"Jackie, it's after 11 at night, you know."
"But Donna, this is really important," I'd begged. "I could use a friend now."
The line had gone quiet for a minute. Finally, Donna groaned. "Yeah, okay. You can come over."
I'd seized the opportunity, but after the disgruntled encounter with Steven in the driveway, I'd had to rethink my entire approach when I finally knocked on Donna's bedroom door.
So I made her tell me about her night first. She'd given me a look, but proceeded to tell me about her dad going bankrupt and how Eric ended up doing some great thing during the barbecue. I didn't catch everything she said, and not because of the way I usually zone out when she talks about Eric, but because I needed to figure out something to tell Donna about my night. I'd begged to come over here, and now that I couldn't tell her about Steven, I still had to give her something.
"So anyway, Jackie, what was such a big deal that you had to come here in the middle of the night?" Donna had watched me expectantly.
"It's hardly the middle of the night, Donna," I'd deflected, but Donna didn't give me an out. "Okay, fine." I'd stood up from her desk chair and collapsed on her bed next to her. "It's Chip," I'd said, the first thing that came to mind.
"What about him?" Donna had asked, skeptically.
"The truth is, I never liked him," I'd started. I hadn't known where I was going to go with that. But it was all I'd had. "I only brought him tonight to make Steven jealous."
"Did it work?" Donna had asked like she already knew the answer.
"No," I'd said, mopey.
I'd known that was the answer Donna expected to hear, and it wasn't entirely a lie, either. I really didn't think bringing Chip had made Steven all that jealous. Maybe a little. But he had punched out Chip to defend my integrity, not because he was jealous. And when he had come around to going on a date with me, well, that was after Chip had been long gone from the barbecue. Come to think of it…I really didn't know what exactly had inspired Steven to finally go out with me. But I supposed now I'll never find out.
"I could've told you that," Donna had said, rolling her eyes and interrupting my thoughts. "So what, that's what you are all worked up about? That Hyde still doesn't like you?"
I'd sat up. That was the perfect excuse for why I came over here. I could just tell Donna that Steven still didn't like me and never have to mention our date at all.
I'd quickly realized that plan wasn't going to work, though. Steven wanted things to go back to normal, and I was pretty sure that he meant to a time before I'd developed a crush on him.
"Actually, no," I'd told Donna. "I came over because I wanted to tell you that I am over Steven Hyde."
Donna didn't even question it. She'd just clasped her hands and looked up at the ceiling. "Oh, thank God."
I'd suppressed an eye roll. I didn't think I'd been that obnoxious…
"Yeah, so anyway." I'd shrugged. "I'm the old me again. But also new and improved. Jackie 2.0," I'd said, giving my signature hair flip.
Donna had gripped my arm suddenly. "You're not going back to Kelso, are you?"
"No way," I'd said.
And that was that. We'd talked for a bit longer before I headed home for the night. And so what if I'd lied to Donna? Was I truly over Steven? Maybe. Though the knot that formed in my stomach every time I thought about him told me otherwise. But as I drove back home and settled into bed that night, the thought that got me to sleep was this: I may not be over Steven, but one day I will be. I would make sure of it.
o-o-o
"So, how's Jackie 2.0?" Donna asks, a faint smile playing at her lips.
"Starving," I admit, thinking again about Tracy dumping her tater tots in the trash and never even offering them to me. Some friend.
"I've got an extra apple," Donna says, reaching into her backpack.
I feel my face scrunch. "Is it from the cafeteria?" I ask. I hated their produce too.
Donna pauses with her hand in her backpack. "No? I brought it from home."
"Then yes, I'll take it," I say and Donna passes me the apple. "Thanks," I say, almost as an afterthought. I rub the apple with my sleeve. It was times like this when I was reminded of what a real friend was.
"So, Jackie. I'm glad I caught you," Donna says, continuing to walk with me. "I've been looking for you all day."
Well, I guess my efforts to go unseen had worked on Donna. Although she wasn't one of the people I'd been trying to avoid.
Speaking of which…
Without realizing it, Donna and I had wandered over to the junior's section of lockers. Up ahead, she was steering me in the direction of Eric at his open locker. But standing next to him was Steven.
"I've gotta go," I say, too loudly.
We are standing more than ten feet away, but both Eric and Steven look up when they hear me speak. Eric's attention shifts immediately to his girlfriend. Steven's eyes linger on mine for a beat longer, but his expression is schooled into complete neutrality. I keep my expression blank also, even though my insides are going haywire.
I break eye contact first, turning back to Donna. She had been starting to tell me something about the school paper, and I actually feel bad having interrupted her.
"I've got to go to the bathroom," I tell her. I shove the apple in my backpack, my appetite suddenly lost. "I've gotta do my hair ribbons before the 6th period bell. Can't be late." I immediately start backing down the hall.
"But, Jackie, I need to talk to you about the school newspaper," Donna says, confusion written all over her face. "And isn't your sixth period class down that hallway?" She points to the hall past Eric and Steven.
She was right. But all I knew is that I had to get out of this hallway now, and back the way we came was my quickest exit. I could feel both Eric and Steven watching us, and I can't bear another glance at Steven's completely disinterested expression.
"Mmhmm, well." I let out a breath. "I feel like going the long way."
"But I thought you were worried about being late?" Donna asks.
"Exactly!" I say, continuing to back away. "Catch you later, Donna."
I don't spare them another glance. I turn and head back the way we came, eager to put as much distance between myself and Steven as possible.
o-o-o
The sinking sun casts long shadows along the high school football field, making a cold November day turn into an even colder November late afternoon. I am thankful for my Point Place cheerleading pullover, but my short skirt leaves my bare legs exposed to the early winter chill. Once the sun fully sets, it will be even colder, but by then we will have warmed up more than enough from cheerleading.
I'm doing some jumping jacks with Tracy, Lisa and some other members of the JV squad when Jenny runs up to us, her blond ponytail bouncing excitedly. She pulls me, Tracy, and Lisa aside.
"Okay, guys I was just talking with Jack," Jenny says, keeping her voice low. Jack was her boyfriend, a year older than us and on the Point Place varsity football team. "And he told me that the varsity teams are going to start watching JV closely to see who might be ready to join the varsity teams next year."
Lisa and Tracy squeal. I hold out my hand. "Wait, are we talking just football, or cheerleading, too?"
"All sports," Jenny says, nodding firmly. "Yeah, and they're talking about the pep rally and tonight's game being sort of a first-impressions thing, so we have to make sure we nail our executions today, girls."
A voice in the back of my mind warns me that this whole first-impressions thing is just talk to make the underclassmen athletes nervous as we prepare for varsity tryout season for next year. Tryouts weren't until January, but you could never psych out the hopefuls too soon, I guess. Still, I feel a twinge of anxiety pulse through my gut, especially after my uniform stunt earlier today.
I do my best to push that aside once the pep rally starts. Pep rallies were usually my favorite events because the cheerleaders were front and center, unlike the football or basketball games where those players were the center focus. All eyes are on us and just a few cheers in I can already feel myself relaxing into it.
While we are taking a break as the marching band moves across the football field I am surprised to find Donna hovering over by the water cooler.
"You shouldn't drink that water," I warn her when she grabs a plastic cup.
"Hey, Jackie," Donna says by way of greeting.
"What are you doing here?" I ask curiously. "I thought you guys were all anti-pep rally." I shake my pom poms.
"They're not my favorite school event, that's for sure," Donna says uncomfortably. "But I wanted to talk to you."
Immediately, I feel my pulse quicken. This pep rally had been just what I needed to push thoughts of Steven aside. But there was no way he was the reason that Donna was here, right? I hadn't told her anything and I doubted he had, either.
She is still clutching her empty cup, having heeded my advice to not drink the water from the cooler.
"Here," I say, retrieving my water bottle from a nearby bench. "This is filtered water from my house." I pour some water in her cup and glance at the water cooler. "That's just filled with a hose and I don't even want to think about the last time it was cleaned."
Donna shudders. "Thanks. Yeah, so I wanted to tell you something after lunch but you took off like you saw a ghost."
I might as well have. "So you came to the pep rally to tell me?" I ask, ignoring her ghost comment.
"Okay, so for the next issue of the school paper I got asked to write an article about the junior varsity athletes," Donna says, chagrined. "Not my first choice in topics, but whatever. I figured I could interview you."
"Oh my God, Donna!" I exclaim. I jump up and down excitedly and clap my pom poms together.
Donna rolls her eyes good-naturedly. "I thought you might like that."
I resist the urge to hug her. "What do you want to know?"
"Right now?" Donna asks, glancing at the football field. The marching band is still playing. "What about the pep rally?"
I wave my hands dismissively. If there was one thing that could lift my spirits more than the pep rally, it was getting to talk about myself. "We just have to do one more cheer before the football game starts. I have time now."
"Okay." Donna shrugs. "So, the article is about the rising JV athletes. I don't know anything about the cheer squad but I'm assuming you're a contender for varsity next year?"
"Of course," I say without hesitation. My performance today more than made up for my outfit blunder this morning.
"Great, so question one…"
o-o-o
I'm feeling so confident, so on-top-of-the-world tonight that I don't even hesitate when Donna asks if I'm going to join her in the basement after the football game is over.
After she finished interviewing me, she told me that she was told that she also had to interview the varsity athletes about their opinions on the up and coming JV athletes, so she went over and chatted with some of the varsity cheerleaders. I watched closely to make sure she didn't interview Leslie - the only one who noticed my missing uniform earlier. She didn't talk to her, so I was feeling pretty good as long as Leslie hadn't yet told anyone else.
Watching the way Donna's whole demeanor shifted when she talked to the varsity cheerleaders made me smile. Yes, while she rolled her eyes plenty while interviewing me, she was also smiling, relaxed, and laughing along with me. But with the varsity cheerleaders, I couldn't help but notice the way her shoulders hunched and the tight set of her jaw. It was one of those moments when I got overwhelmed by the fact that over the years Donna and I really became best friends. In a different world, she would've acted around me the same way she was with the varsity squad.
My cheering was on point all night long, I got to have both Donna and my JV cheerleading friends, I was interviewed for the school paper, and the icing on the cake? Point Place won the football game which meant we got to do our victory cheer, my favorite.
I talk Donna's ear off the whole way to the Forman's house, but I just can't help it. I feel good, so much better than I did at the end of Friday night. I feel like I start talking more as we get closer to the Forman's, and I wonder how much of that is from anxiety about seeing Steven again, but I refuse to let that thought fully form.
It's not until we are descending the stairs to the basement that I run out of things to say. Donna takes the opportunity to speak.
"Hey, Jackie. I'm surprised you haven't asked me about what the varsity cheerleaders said."
I gasp, as Donna swings the door open to the basement. "That's right! I have an insider. Oh my God, Donna, you have to tell me everything!"
My enthusiasm has been slowly corroding to agitation and by the way Donna looks at me now, she can sense it. I'd ask Steven if we could have a circle so I could mellow out, but seeing as he is the reason for my agitation, I don't think that's going to happen.
"Hey, Donna," Eric says, glancing up from where he's perched on the back of the couch when we walk in. "Where've you been all night?"
Donna and I cast off our coats near the record player. She walks behind the couch to give Eric a kiss before answering. "At the pep rally and football game with Jackie. For the school paper?"
"That was today?" Eric asks.
"You didn't know there was a pep rally today?" I ask incredulously.
Eric glances at me and shrugs. "Sports are just…ehhh."
I roll my eyes and quickly take inventory of the basement. Fez is in the lawn chair watching TV, Michael is perched on the deep freeze, fully engrossed in his popsicle, and Steven is in his chair, head down as he flips through a MAD magazine. I take the spot on the couch closest to the lawn chair.
"Yeah, well you missed a fun night," I tell Eric. "The Vikings won, so we got to do our victory cheer, which is my favorite because we do a pyramid, which of course, I'm at the top of - "
"I don't care," Eric deadpans.
"Hey, show some school spirit, you buffoon," Fez says as though Eric personally wounded him.
"That's right, Fez!" I point at him. "At least someone here is enlightened."
"Enlightened?" Eric laughs. "Well…well, you're not enlightened, either."
I cross my arms. "Oh, yeah?"
"Yeah…" Eric falters. But a beat later he sits up straight. "At least I don't drive people to go out on dates with other people so that I'll realize that they don't like me."
"What?" I ask, having completely lost him.
But because I'm acutely aware of Steven in my periphery, I immediately notice that he lowers his magazine and glances at Eric. "Forman," he warns.
"What are you talking about?" I demand, refusing to look at Steven as a sinking feeling settles in my chest.
"Oh, you know." Eric shrugs. "Just that Hyde had to go out with some random chick Friday night to get you to back off."
"Eric," Donna hisses, slapping her boyfriend's shoulder.
Random chick?
Here I'd been worried that Steven was going to tell everyone that our date was a disaster. I'd never even conceived the idea that he might weave some elaborate tale that would humiliate me instead. I feel tears threateningly sting in the back of my eyes.
"Yeah, well." I swallow, trying to keep my voice from wavering. "That was just a stupid crush anyway." I dare to glance in Steven's direction. He's watching me intently but I turn my attention away from him and back over to Eric and Donna.
"Besides, I have more important things to worry about, anyway. Like getting ready for varsity tryouts in January." I force some signature-Jackie confidence to hide my growing discomfort. "I'm already a shoo-in, but you can never get too much practice!"
"Here's what I think," Michael chimes in for the first time. He tosses his popsicle stick and hops off the deep freeze. "Lady athletes - especially the cheerleaders - are hot. But other than that, I'm with Eric. Sports are for botards."
I sigh audibly and shake my head. "I can't believe I ever liked either one of you," I say, glancing back and forth between Michael and Steven.
"This is an abominable group, Jackie," Eric says, but his voice is smug. "A bunch of miscreants, if you will."
"Finally, we agree on something. But at least I never liked you." I reply snarkily, rising from the couch. "Anyway, it's late. I'm going home. Donna, tomorrow we can talk about your interview with the varsity squad. I want to know all the amazing things they told you about me."
I grab my coat and when Donna doesn't reply right away I give her an expectant look. "Donna?"
"It's just…" she falters. "Yeah, okay."
"Excellent. Good night, miscreants."
I don't mean to slam the door. But it hits the frame so hard it bounces right back open. I'm so angry that I don't bother to turn around and shut it.
I seethe the whole drive home. It's late, so my parents are already in bed again tonight. That's for the best; I don't want to have to explain my foul first thing I do when I get to my room is beeline for my closet. Despite the highs and lows of the day, I hadn't forgotten about my crumpled up sweater I had to toss on the floor earlier today. I pick it up, and then, in my anger, impulsively reach for the other item I had shoved into my closet Friday night.
The denim is soft, and well-worn, but I know from experience that the jacket is warm. Despite being hurt and angry with him, I can't help but lift it to my nose. It smells faintly of weed and aftershave.
If Steven wanted to play dirty, then fine. He could humiliate me in front of our friends by lying about our date, but two could play at this game.
If Steven Hyde wanted his jacket back, he'd have to come and pry it from my cold, vengeful hands.
Author's Note (1): All the cheerleaders in this chapter appear in episodes of That '70s Show. Lisa, Jenny, and Tracy appear in season 1 episode 12, "The Best Christmas Ever", as the friends that Jackie brings to Eric's Christmas party. Leslie Cannon appears in season 4 episode 22, "Eric's Corvette Caper". They all play a significant role in this story.
Author's Note (2): Chapter 4: Money & Truth will be posted Friday, February 16, 2024.