Hyde recovered quickly, hopping up and decking Kelso. Kelso fell to the ground with a loud "thud", clutching his rapidly swelling eye. Jackie raced up to Hyde, wrapping both her arms around one of his, fixing him with a "my hero" grin, just thanking God it WAS him that won the fight... Hyde looked down at her almost proudly. "MY girl." he thought, unable to hide the smile. "Fine, Hyde, you win..." Kelso said weakly, a decided tremor in his voice. "Guess that means you get Jackie---" "He had me BEFORE the fight!" she informed him, suddenly angry. "This isn't the cave times where the strongest gets the mate! I would have chosen Steven even if he LOST... I mean, I'm GLAD he won, BELIEVE me, but... even if he DIDN'T, I couldn't go back with you..." "Why not?" Kelso demanded, sticking out his lower lip petulantly. "Because... you make me less, Micheal." she admitted quietly. "Steven knows who I am and respects me for it; he understands me. YOU, on the other hand, want a trophy. That's not enough for me." "Jackie---" "NO. You DON'T respect me, Kelso... You... I'm more ME without you... I had just started realizing it, which is why I DON'T know why I was letting myself fall into the old pattern, and I'm sorry." "YOU'RE sorry?" Hyde asked incredulously. "Well... yeah. I mean, I should not have taken him back in the first place. THAT was MY idiotiocy." Hyde wisely did not reply to this one. "Look, you guys ARE friends, okay? And, now that this is out of your systems, it's done, capice?" "Well---" "But---" "NO! No 'wells', no 'buts'! It's over. Things go back to the way they SHOULD be, got me?" But, before either could answer, Jackie took Hyde's hand and half-dragged him to his car... Donna, Eric, Fez and Caroline were sitting in the basement now, playing cards when Kelso suddenly burst in, looking pissed and having a massive shiner. "THIS IS ALL YOUR FAULT!" he yelled at them. on to part 5 index |
| part 4 by Bunny |