Chapter 135: Wrecked.
[Hyde POV]
Outside, at the driveway.
The blue van has one backdoor missing. The right one. The impact caused the right tail light to burst, and the metal dented inward since Jackie had backed into a brick wall.
I stood on the non-broken side of the van, with one hand on the roof. Fez had entered the van, peeking through the window of the non-damaged back door.
"How did this happen? Jackie, how?" Kelso was frustrated to the point of almost crying. He slowly made his way next to me.
Startled, Jackie tried to explain, "Michael, like I said—"
"HOW?" Kelso said loudly.
"Coming out of the driveway—"
Kelso screamed, almost throwing a fit. "HOOWW!?"
I said seriously, "Kelso. Come on, man. Relax." Then, I grinned. "Let those of us who aren't you enjoy this moment."
Fez smiled childishly and said, "Besides, it's not all that bad. This door still works—"
The other door fell to the ground with a loud bang. Everyone was startled and stared at the van.
Kelso flailed his arms around, holding back his tears.
Forman walked next to Jackie and asked, "Hey, Jackie. What happened to the other door?"
Jackie widened her eyes. "Other door?"
Forman replied sarcastically, "Yeah, you know, the thing that always got in the way… of this giant, gaping hole."
Fez walked next to me. Donna leaned in next to the van near Jackie.
Suddenly, Kelso turned to me and asked, "Can you fix it?"
"Sure." I said casually. "But I don't do friends and family discounts. That's for suckers."
Kelso nodded with a sigh. Suddenly, he saw something on the carpeted floor of the van. It was a pair of drumsticks.
He picked them up and walked to Jackie confrontationally.
"Jackie, what are these?"
"Uh—" Jackie was flustered. "Van sticks?"
"No. Jackie, these—These are not van sticks. These are drumsticks. Whose drumsticks are they?"
Donna crossed her arms and asked giddily, "Oh, wow, Jackie. What's up?"
Jackie shot a glare at Donna before turning back to Kelso. She sighed and said, "Okay. Fine. You know what? I used your van to drive Chip and his band to a gig."
Kelso asked with an alarmed gaze. "Jackie… is Chip a girl?"
"Uh, no." Jackie replied vaguely.
Kelso exploded, "You had other guys in my van?!"
I snickered and interjected, "You're dating a band?"
Jackie glared at me this time. Then, she confessed to Kelso again. "It wasn't a date. It was a gig."
"Whatever it was, it was a gross misuse of van." Kelso stammered. "And, uh—And you owe me money—big-time!"
"I owe you money?" Jackie scoffed. "What about all the stuff I bought you while we were together?" She added sassily.
Taken aback, Kelso argued, "That does not count. You gave me those things so I would love you!"
Jackie gasped. Then, she stormed off to the basement. Donna followed her quickly.
"Come back here! We're not done yet!" Kelso also went to the basement.
Fez and I turned to each other. Then, we shrugged and went to the basement too.
Red opened the sliding door and called Eric before he could follow us.
…
-TV-
Kitty Forman was doing laundry after getting back from her nurse's shift. She came down to the basement and realized something. A shirt had fallen down beneath the dryer. After she pulled it out, she smiled and laughed with satisfaction.
"Oh, this is Steven's shirt. He's been looking for this shirt for weeks." She turned and walked to the boy's room.
"Steven—" As she opened the door, she realized the room was completely empty.
Shocked, she went upstairs to talk with her family. Red and Eric were walking into the kitchen when they bumped into Kitty.
"Mom? What's wrong?" Eric asked as he saw his mother's pale face.
"Um, I just went into Steven's room…and it's completely empty." She said, looking at Eric for answers.
"Empty?" Red furrowed his eyebrows. "How can it be empty?"
"How should I know?" Kitty was frustrated. "Eric! Did he tell you something?"
"Um, I have no idea." Eric shrugged and said, "Hey. Maybe he's just trying to practice his family's exclusive skill."
"That is?" Red turned to him.
"Leaving in the middle of the night and disappearing." Eric added with a nervous smile.
Kitty tilted her head, staring at Eric with a face full of disbelief and horror.
…
[Hyde POV]
Inside the basement. Kelso and Jackie stood face to face behind the couch.
"You owe me money!" Kelso pointed his finger at Jackie's face and shouted.
"Michael, your uncle gave you that van for free." Jackie argued, not backing down.
I raised an eyebrow, wondering if Jackie had forgotten that I was the one who gave the van to Kelso. The original van was burned down.
But then I remembered the system asked me to replace the van, so that's why I gave him the replacement. For the audience in the TV series, it was still the same van.
Kelso was taken aback. "Yeah? Well, I put a lot of money into that van."
He began listing it out, "The shag carpeting…uh, eight-track…strobe light, black light, red light."
I interjected, "Basically everything one needs to turn their van into a sex dungeon."
"What—No!" Kelso was flustered.
Jackie gasped and said, "You lend me your sex dungeon?!"
"No!" Kelso replied with a high-pitched voice.
"I hate you!" Jackie spewed out.
"Well, I hate you more!" Kelso argued back.
"I hate you most!" Jackie stepped closer towards him.
"Well, I hate you the—the—" He gave up. "Damn it!"
"All right. All right. Let's just act like adults…" I interjected, standing beside Jackie. "And treat this like what it really is; a divorce."
Fez grinned and said, "Oh, Jackie, you get custody of me."
Jackie grimaced, slightly revolted. Then, she turned to me.
I picked up a notepad and said, "All right. Let's just figure out what you guys owe each other."
Then, I walked to my special seat and sat there, leaned back with my legs on the coffee table.
Jackie walked to the couch and while saying, "Fine. I'm not afraid. I'm right, and he's a total moocher."
Kelso stood at the edge of the couch and said, "I'm not afraid either. There are laws to protect a man and his van!"
I said sarcastically, "For instance, the Man-Van Act of 1847."
He agreed with me seriously. "Right."
I slumped down, disappointed with his idiocy, and said, "All right. All right. Jackie… in your opinion, what are the goods and services that Kelso owes you for?"
Fez sat close to me.
Jackie stood up and confronted Kelso again. "Everything. He was a total doofus before I met him. In fact, I bought you that belt. So hand it over."
She held her hand out to Kelso. He was flustered but still unbuckled his belt to give it back to her.
"And the shirt too!" She added.
He unbuttoned his blue paisley shirt and said, "Fine. You know, this shirt has bad memories of you buying me stuff anyway."
Fez reached out for the notepad. I gave it to him willingly.
"Here. Let me do the math." Fez cleared his throat and said, "Okay. Now, Kelso—Uh, Kelso owes Jackie the price for breaking her beautiful heart…and stealing her innocence."
"So like, 10 bucks?" I teased. Jackie turned and gave me a murderous glare.
I raised my hands up and said, "Just trying to help here."
Fez chuckled and said seriously, "Now, Kelso, what do you believe Jackie owes you?"
"Well—Uh—" He stammered. "W—One time I told her that she looked pretty…when really she looked pretty skanky."
Jackie immediately slapped him on the chest. He winced in pain and his chest skin turned red.
"And—" He struggled for another item on the list. "And—Hyde, help me out here."
I nodded and said, "Okay. Let me think." Then, something came to mind. "Oh. Don't forget he burned your house."
Jackie grinned instantly.
"Hyde." Kelso whined, falling in disbelief.
"Dude, you burned her house." I shrugged. "So how much is that?"
Jackie sat next to Fez and said, "That chair alone is worth more than 100 dollars."
"No—liar!" Kelso pointed his finger at Jackie accusatorily, but no one minded him.
"My dad said the insurance premium also went up because of that. So that's also the monthly payment charge." Jackie said.
"All in all, the fire caused around 500 dollars worth of damage to my family."
She wore Kelso's shirt over her shoulder. Then, she wore his belt around her waist, taunting Kelso with the items he had to surrender back to her.
"Wait, that pants too. Give it back."
"F—Fine!" Kelso hugged his body as it was quite cold inside the basement.
'Huh? Cold?'
The temperature dropped to almost late-fall levels of coldness.
It made sense as I thought about it. This episode would be released after Halloween.
'Will there be snow in the summertime? I think a Christmas special would be next.'
Kelso's debt kept racking up. It was already over 7000 grand.
"Dude. You're getting spoiled like crazy…and you still cheat?" I said, flabbergasted as I saw the numbers.
Fez turned to him and cursed, "You ungrateful son of a bitch."
Kelso was taken aback. Jackie laughed giddily.
Donna suddenly walked into the basement. "Hey, Hyde—Why is Kelso in his underwear?"
Donna lost her focus as she saw Kelso sitting on the couch, hugging his body and shivering.
"Do you really want to know? Or do you want to just enjoy it?" Fez asked teasingly.
"Ew, no. I don't want to enjoy Kelso's naked body." Donna grimaced and walked towards me. "Hey, you—Um, go upstairs."
"Why?" I asked, pretending to be confused.
"Just go!" Donna snapped at me.
"Fine. You take over. We're trying to find out how much Kelso and Jackie owe each other."
I left my friends and went upstairs. Before I entered the kitchen, I realized that the recording had started again.
"Hey, what's for lunch?" I asked casually.
Mrs. Forman, Red, and Eric all turned their heads to look at me as I opened the fridge and grabbed a soda.
"What?" I asked, confused.
"Is there anything you want to tell us?" Mrs. Forman asked, hinting subtly.
I acted taken aback and panicked slightly. "I don't know what the school says, but I have an alibi that night. And as long as we keep our stories straight, I don't think they are going to pursue this."
Red grimaced. "What?"
Eric was horrified. "What did you do?!"
Mrs. Forman rubbed her forehead. "So many questions. But, Steven. That's not what we're asking."
"What are you asking?" I asked, leaning on the kitchen counter casually. "Give me a hint."
"No. Guess again." Red interjected. "I want to know what else you're hiding from us."
"I'm not falling for that." I grinned. "What's this all about?"
Eric interjected. "Hyde, we know that you've moved out."
"Oh." I stood straight and faked confusion. "Really? Just now? But I did tell Red I'm moving out though."
Mrs. Forman and Eric turned to the flabbergasted man.
"Me? When did you tell me?"
"You were watching TV. I told you I'm leaving. You grunted. Then, you told me to bring back milk."
"I—" Red opened his mouth, and then he fell into a realization. "Wait."
"RED FORMAN!" Kitty exploded. "How could you not tell us?! TELL ME?!"
"Kitty. Wait. He's the one who's not being clear about that. I thought he was just going out. I didn't think he was going to move out."
Mrs. Forman turned to me and asked, "You too! How can you not tell me you're moving out?! After all I've done for you!"
"I think the question should be, how did it take you two weeks to even notice I'm not around anymore."
"Two weeks?!" Mrs. Forman exploded again.
"Really?" Eric was startled. "But you're around a lot."
I just shrugged. "I guess nothing really changed. There's no reason to be mad if nothing has changed, is it?"
Mrs. Forman pulled her back in shock. Then, she walked away, her face full of disappointment.
"Kitty." Red followed her quickly from behind to placate her.
Red stopped next to me and said, "You better fix this. Or my foot will be moving out too. The new home—up your ass!"
Then he pushed the kitchen door angrily and went to check up on Mrs. Forman.
"Damn. He did a drive-by ass-footing." I muttered calmly and said, "Alright, I'm going to be in the basement."
…
Time passed by. The Formans entered a discussion about who was the one who drove me out of the house. That took almost half of the episode.
In the meantime, I was finally wrapping up the car accident side plot in the basement.
"I'm cold."
Kelso hugged his body, shivering hard as he sat on the armrest of the couch.
Fez played with his yo-yo, standing up next to Kelso. He said casually, "That must be why your nipples are so pointy."
Kelso smacked him instantly. Annoyed, Fez taunted him. "Oh, pointy nipple man is mad. I hope he doesn't poke me with his pointy nipples."
I grimaced and said, "All right. That was really disturbing."
After calculating everything, I said, "Okay. Here we go. According to my calculations, for repairs to the van…Jackie, you owe Kelso $65."
"Aha! Justice!" Kelso stood up and celebrated in his brown underwear.
"Yeah." I continued casually, "And, Kelso, you owe Jackie…$8,265."
"What—" Kelso was flabbergasted.
Jackie celebrated and said, "Pay up, moocher!" She stood up and held her palm at him, asking for the money.
"Wha—Wha—No, no. This is—That's totally unfair!" Kelso peeked at me and said, "Hyde, you suck."
"You could have been a man and forgiven her after everything she had done for you. But no. You wanted to do the math." I rebuked him.
He lowered his head disappointedly. "Man, math has never been my friend."
Kelso quickly grasped at straws and complained, "Wait. No. But she had other guys in my van."
Jackie moved her head sassily and said, "Michael, you had other girls in your van while we were dating. So, give me my $8,000."
He hugged his cold body while she demanded the money.
Suddenly, he calmed down and said, "Okay. I changed my mind. I forgive you."
Jackie looked at him with confusion. "You don't think you're getting out of this that easily, are you?" Jackie asked with a menacing glare.
"Um, Hyde! Help!" He rushed towards me.
"Stop it." I used my leg to stop him. He's naked; I didn't want him close to me.
"This is on you! Not me."
Fez added, "There's no contract. If you ran away, she won't be able to claim anything—"
Kelso quickly ran outside of the house, in his underwear. The weather outside was still bitingly cold.
Jackie sat down next to me and laughed out loud. "Ah, vindication. That's even better than sex."
"Then you never had good sex." I replied casually.
She rolled her eyes at me.
"What's your plan with his shirt?" I asked, changing the subject.
"Why? Do you want it?" She asked, pulling the shirt off her shoulders.
"No, but I know Fez has been eyeing it for months."
Fez nodded and said, "It is a good shirt."
"Then you can have it, Fez." She gave the shirt to Fez easily.
He took it and smelled it. Then, he grinned to himself. It creeped me out a little bit.
"Hey Steven. Do you want to go watch a movie with me?" Jackie asked casually.
"Not really." I rejected her. She widened her eyes in shock.
"Wait, I thought we're going to go to Funland?" Fez asked urgently.
"Right." I remembered it and said, "Thanks, Jackie, it's already 2. Do you really want to go there now?"
Jackie was pissed. "Why are you blaming me? I gave the van back hours ago."
"Yeah, but it's a wreck." Fez argued with her.
"You can still drive it. I drove it this morning. It's still fine." She complained.
I chuckled and said, "Wait. The other door. Where is it?"
Jackie shrugged and said, "I don't know. I think it was still on when I drove it from my house."
"So it might fall on the road." I mumbled. "We need to go find it."
Fez, Jackie, and I rode my car and drove around town to find the other door.
The van door was already damaged beyond repair when we found it.
It had a huge tire mark on it. A huge truck had rolled over it.
"He's going to need a new door." I mumbled.
…
I went back home as I knew the Formans would visit me at my house tonight.
But, I didn't expect Fez and Jackie to tag along with me.
They refused to get out of the car when I tried to drop them at the Forman's house.
"Hyde! This house looks really nice." Fez said giddily as he entered through the front door.
Jackie grimaced and said, "It's charming…but a little small."
I grimaced and closed the door behind me as they went exploring on their own.
Jackie walked around the living room while Fez sat on the couch, reaching for the TV remote.
"I like the fireplace." Jackie commented. "Even though the house's small, it seems really classy."
"Thanks?"
Fez gasped as he saw the TV. "It's really big. How many inches is this?"
"50." I replied casually.
Back in 1977, a twenty-five-inch television was considered enormous.
Compared to that, my fifty-inch HDTV looked more like a movie screen than a television.
A 2000s HDTV, even only showing a 480i analog cable signal, would still look amazing.
"Cable?" He asked.
"Yup." I replied.
"So you can see boobs any time?" He asked urgently.
"No, Fez. I bought the cheap subscription. There's only the major channels, and all boobs channels will be turned off at 6."
"Damn it." Fez cursed and said, "Well, at least we have a few hours."
Jackie turned to me, face full of bewilderment.
She whispered, "Why did you lie to him?"
"He's going to stay here all night long if I don't." I replied. "So help me out here."
Jackie nodded and said, "Fez, not only do they turn it off at 6, if you don't turn it off at that time, you'll go to a foreigner's jail."
"Really?" Fez flinched in fear.
"Do you want something to eat?" I asked them.
"Steven, are you hosting us right now?" Jackie slowly grinned.
I grimaced and said, "You hungry or not? I'm going to order some 'za."
"I'M IN!" Fez said cheekily.
"In? You want one or not?" Jackie scolded him.
"I do!"
"Then, say that." Jackie grimaced.
I chuckled and said, "Alright then."
I pretended to order it through the phone even though I was ordering it through the online apps.
'I should buy extra.'
Ophelia and the children would return home in a few hours. The Formans were also visiting me.
I felt quite guilty about lying to Mrs. Forman, so I wanted to host her properly.
Chapter 136: New Set.
[Hyde POV]
While I was waiting for the pizza, the system suddenly chimed in.
{Register a new set for the show? 5 Rating Points Needed. (Yes/No)}
My mind went blank for a bit.
'Wait, if I register this, won't that mean future episodes will be held here?'
I put off making the decision for a while. It didn't seem like the system needed my answer right away.
Jackie was rummaging through my entertainment unit cabinet and found a dance DVD.
"Steven! What is this?" She asked, face full of expectation. "Did you find this for me? You know I need to create a new routine as a head cheerleader."
I grimaced and said, "Stop deluding yourself. I just came across the DVD by accident."
"What's a DVD?" Fez asked.
Jackie opened the package and said, "It's not a VCR. It's more of a disc."
I scoffed and said, "Well, if you know how to put it on, you can watch it—"
She pressed the insert disc button on my DVD/VCR player. The disc tray popped out. Jackie read the instructions on the DVD and placed the disc inside it the correct way.
"Damn. I forgot you're not an idiot."
Jackie grinned and pressed the button again to insert the disc inside the player.
The TV automatically switched to the DVD input. It was a built-in function of the TV.
I sighed inwardly, but I just let her watch the video since there was nothing to do anyway while waiting for the pizza.
The screen faded in.
A bright dance studio appeared. Floor-to-ceiling mirrors lined the walls, and six young women stood in formation wearing matching black practice outfits.
"Oh! They are really hot!" Fez leaned in and locked in immediately.
I nodded and said, "They really are."
They wore sexy dance clothes and black caps. Jackie glared at me for a second before turning back to the video.
One of them clapped her hands. The instructor talked for a while. Then, she was giving directions. "하나, 둘, 셋, 넷!" (One, two, three, four)
The dancers were practicing what she told them to do.
Jackie blinked slowly. "…What?"
The instructor continued speaking rapidly.
"다시 한 번!" (Once more)
Fez tilted his head. "…Is that Chinese?"
"I don't think so." Jackie frowned. "Maybe Japanese?"
"It's Korean." I answered casually.
"Korean?" Jackie repeated. "I've never heard anyone speak Korean before."
"They're counting the beats." I explained to her. I didn't know much Korean, but I knew how to count in their language.
"…Really?"
"One, two, three, four." The instructor suddenly switched to English.
Jackie immediately relaxed. I checked the DVD and there was an English subtitle option. So I turned it on.
The music started. The dancers moved at the exact same time. Every arm stopped at precisely the same angle. Every foot landed together.
There wasn't a single person even half a beat behind.
Jackie's eyes slowly widened and she stood up immediately. "…They're perfectly synchronized!"
I was surprised too. This was definitely something Jackie needed to cement her role as the head cheerleader.
'Did the system give me the DVD on purpose?'
The six dancers suddenly split apart. Instead of remaining in two straight rows, they flowed into a V-shape.
Without stopping, the girl in the middle stepped backward while the two outer dancers crossed behind everyone else.
Three seconds later, their formation had become a diamond.
"They're moving while they're dancing…" Jackie scrunched her eyebrows.
Then, she shouted, "STEVEN! Pause it! I need a pen and paper!"
"You can just watch it again later." I said lazily.
"Ugh." She grimaced and turned to the TV again.
"Jackie, sit down! I want to see it too!" Fez whined.
Jackie was blocking the screen as she tried to mimic the dance.
Jackie had been dancing since elementary school. There's a reason why she won the roller disco competition with Fez.
Another transition. The front line knelt. The back line spread apart. The center dancer walked through the opening.
Now the formation looked like an arrow pointing toward the audience.
"Oooooh…"
Jackie was glued to the screen. I picked up the pizza and we ate while we watched the dance choreography.
Jackie even followed along to the techniques while biting the pizza, letting it dangle from her mouth.
"Can I come tomorrow? I need to create a new cheerleading choreography, so I need the DVD." She asked as she turned towards me dramatically.
I shrugged and said, "I won't be home. You can ask my roommate. Or I can make a copy on a VCR. You can bring that home."
"You have a roommate? Who?" Fez asked, curious.
"Yeah, Steven. Who are you living with? It's not a girl, is it?" Jackie asked, sitting close to me.
I smirked and replied, "It is a girl. It's Ophelia."
"The actress?" Fez asked.
Jackie fumed in anger. "You're living with an actress in your house? You said you are not going to date any actresses that work with you! Is that a lie?"
Taken aback, I choked on my pizza as I tried to swallow it prematurely. I hit my chest, coughing, and had to drink some Pepsi before it would go down.
I wiped my mouth and said, "Who says I'm dating her? She's just living here temporarily because of safety issues. And all of her siblings are here too."
"Oh." Jackie was taken aback. Then, she smiled childishly. "So, you're not dating her?"
I grimaced and said, "Even if I do, it's none of your business."
"You explained your situation to me even though you don't have to." Jackie grinned. "So, I know deep down, you still want me to chase after you. Or, you could've ended it by saying you already have a serious girlfriend. Serious enough that you're moving in with her."
"Oh, damn it." I widened my eyes in realization. I turned to Jackie and said seriously, "We're a serious couple. I planned on asking her to marry me soon."
"As if." Jackie giggled. "You have already exposed yourself."
Fez laughed and said, "Hyde. You're an idiot."
I turned to him slowly and stared at him for a while. Then, I asked, "So how many girls are going after you now?"
He dropped his head instantly, looking defeated and depressed. "I tried to call Kelso's sister, but she doesn't want to go out with me." Fez confessed.
"Don't feel bad, Fez." Jackie tried to comfort him. "It just means she has a standard." Then, she went back to watching the video.
I looked at her with disbelief before turning to Fez, asking, "How did you ask her out?"
"I saw her at the hub. Then, I said, 'So you lost a lot of weight and not looking like a cow, should we go out?'. She threw a soda on my face and left."
"Got to say, Fez. This one's on you." I muttered, which made him even more depressed.
"What did I do wrong?" He asked.
"You mentioned her weight, you acted like you're doing her a favor, you are foreign…I can keep listing it out, but I have to focus here." Jackie interjected again.
"Ignoring the last part, yeah, Jackie is mostly right here." I said to him.
"Maybe you can come with me and be my wingman." Fez said with an expectant look.
"Hmm, maybe I'll spare an evening for you." I replied after thinking about it.
…
As I expected, the Formans came to the house later that evening.
"Surprise?" Eric opened his arms wide as I opened the door.
"Not really. I've been expecting you." I said happily. "Come on in."
Fez walked to the door and said, "May I take your coats?"
"Oh. Look. He even got a coatman." Eric took off his coat and gave it to Fez, playing along with the character Fez picked. "Thank you, kind sir." He said with a British accent.
"I didn't hire him." I said as Eric entered the house. "I take no responsibility here for what's about to happen."
"What?" Eric turned and saw that Fez was wearing his coat.
Fez said gleefully, "I have gotten a shirt, pants, belt, and now a coat. Today is a blessed day for Fez."
Fez walked out the door. Eric opened his mouth, but it was too late.
"Did he just leave with my coat?" Eric asked me with a puzzled expression.
"I told you I'm not taking any responsibility for it." I grinned and turned to Red.
"Hey, Red. Look, I got a coffee table."
Red immediately smiled and said, "Took you long enough."
The audience may remember a gag from the episode where I moved into the Forman's house. When Red came by my trashed house, he told me I needed a coffee table to tie the room together.
"Kitty. Why don't we move away from the doorway and sit here on the comfy couch?" Red turned to Kitty, who's still sulking and was standing in the entryway.
Jackie suddenly walked into the living room from the kitchen, wearing an apron and holding a snack tray with her.
"Mrs. Forman, I made you some hot cocoa. And we also have cookies."
I sighed and said, "Jackie. Stop trying to act like a housewife."
"I'm not!" Jackie said slyly and added, "But you got to admit I look pretty cute like this."
"What—NO."
"Pfft. You can't appreciate what's in front of you." Jackie snorted.
Mrs. Forman interjected with a sarcastic tone, "Oh, Jackie. Don't worry about that. He doesn't appreciate anything. Nothing at all. Even if we treated him like family."
I smiled helplessly and said, "Alright. I guess that's on me."
Red called Kitty softly, "Come on, Kitty. Sit down first. The cookie's pretty good."
Mrs. Forman snapped at Red. "I'm not a petulant child that could be appeased with just some cookies."
"Then, would you be appeased when you take a look at the picture on top of the fireplace?" I asked her calmly.
She widened her eyes and finally walked from the entryway, peeking at the mantle. Then, she saw a family picture. The Formans and me.
"Aww, the picture I forced you to take when we're doing family portraits." Mrs. Forman melted instantly.
"Nice job." Eric complimented me cheekily.
Then, the living room fell into silence again.
"I'll be the one to break this awkward silence." Eric spoke up and asked me point blank. "Why did you move out without telling us?"
I shrugged and said, "There's no real reason to it."
"Oh, come on. You won't even move out if you don't feel something." Eric added. "Is it because of Laurie? She kept attacking you, calling you a parasite or a leech. Is that why you left in the middle of the night?"
Eric pressed on for an answer.
"If I have to pick someone for the reason, I guess it'll be Mrs. Forman." I replied.
"Me?!" Mrs. Forman was flabbergasted. "I'll understand if it's Red or Laurie, but me?! You seriously moved away because of me?!"
She was really dumbfounded. Red accidentally chuckled and Kitty immediately cursed at him.
"Oh, shut up, RED!"
Then, she turned to me and asked, "What did I do to you? I treated you with kindness all the time. What went wrong there?!"
I chuckled and said, "Mrs. Forman, I don't mean it in a bad way."
"Well, you mean something. So what is it? Is it my shrill voice? Is it the fact that I care too much?"
"Mom, this isn't a job interview." Eric snickered.
"You shut it too!" Kitty scolded Eric.
"Well," I held her hand and said, "If I have to specify one reason, it'll be that I really enjoy living in your house."
Mrs. Forman was baffled once again.
"You're not making any sense!" Mrs. Forman walked to the couch and sat down angrily.
I chuckled slightly and walked to the couch too.
"You better come out with a good explanation for this. Or else I'm going to pull you by your ear and bring you back to the house." Mrs. Forman added.
Eric snickered and said, "Do it, Mom."
I fiddled with my fingers and said, "I'm not lying. I am really happy living in your house."
"So, why did you move out?" Red asked gruffly.
"Well, I figured I should move out before I get kicked out."
"Steven. No one is going to kick you out." Mrs. Forman was skeptical.
I laughed awkwardly and said, "In my experience, it's usually at the height of happiness that something bad is going to happen. My dad said he's going to stop drinking and be more present. Then, he left the family a week later."
"My mom and I finally sat down and talked. We no longer argue constantly. Then, she ran off too."
I looked at her and said, "I kept waking up in the middle of the night when I heard footsteps in your house. A part of me kept thinking, 'Oh. This is it. They are finally going to kick me out now.'"
"We—We weren't going to do that." Eric leaned forward, face full of concern.
Even Red got more serious.
"Rationally, I know you weren't going to do it. But I can't help it. It's already the norm for me. This time, I want to get ahead of it. So I leave first."
Mrs. Forman was frozen by the sudden confession. Her facial expression was heartbreaking.
Suddenly, Jackie came into the room holding a black bra in her hand.
In a true sitcom manner that wouldn't let a serious situation go on without undercutting the tension with a joke, Jackie snapped at me and said, "Why is there a black brassiere in the hamper? Did you bring a girl home?"
"Steven?" Mrs. Forman was confused.
I was stunned speechless for a second there. Then, I replied, "I can explain."
"Oh, you little rascal." Mrs. Forman was angry. "Are you tricking me with the sob story? Did you move out because of a girl?"
"There's no need to explain it anymore." Mrs. Forman stood up and tried to leave, but Red stopped her.
"Kitty. I know you're mad, but let's listen to it first." Red said softly to her before he made his way towards me. "So, Steven. You have one last chance to come clean."
"I have a roommate." I replied quickly.
"I knew it!" Jackie gripped the bra angrily.
"She's living here with her three young siblings." I added. "Children, mostly."
"Huh?"
Everyone froze again.
I explained, "It's a temporary thing. They have some problems with some bad seeds, so I let them stay here for a while."
"…Why?" Mrs. Forman asked.
I stood up and said, "You took me in when I had no place to go. So I did the same."
Mrs. Forman melted instantly. I held her slightly and said, "If I come back for Thanksgiving, Christmas, or any other holiday, it's fine, right? I don't really have any other family to celebrate those holidays with."
She laughed, tears falling from her eyes. "Sure. You can come by anytime you want."
"Kitty. He's always at the house. We didn't even notice he's not living there anymore because he's around so much."
Red teased, but his face beamed up in pride.
The episode ended shortly after that. The Formans left the house, bringing Jackie with them. Shortly after that, Ophelia and her siblings came back from the amusement park.
[Episode 8: Moving Out. Rating: 7.7
Story Credit: 1]
I watched the episode instantly. There were a few things I didn't know that happened in the episode.
First, Mrs. Forman decided to quit her job as a nurse. She didn't need to do it anymore, and she felt that her job was the reason it took her too long to realize what was happening in her household.
She wanted more control over her life. So she quit. Besides, she didn't need the income anyway.
Secondly, the Formans mentioned they wanted to check whether I was mature enough to live on my own or not.
When they came to my house demanding an answer, I appeared really mature to the audience.
The scene was quite serious too, as there were no laugh tracks when I was telling the reason.
And lastly, Eric and Donna were trying to sneak into my house later on to have secret sex here.
'Like hell they will.'
I checked the storyline credit since I never received it before.
The system panel changed.
[Storyline Credit: 1
Redeemable options:
Alternate future world access. (1 credit—1 week)
10 Rating Points.
Deep Web access.]
"Huh?"
I was confused by the choices. Instead of picking anything, I decided to just go to sleep and think about it tomorrow.
…
The next morning, as I woke up, I heard a knock coming from the front door.
It was only 6:30, so I was quite annoyed.
I peeked through the door viewer and saw Jackie standing outside the house.
"Why are you here?" I asked while yawning.
She pushed ahead and said, "I need to watch the DVD again. I'm going to the team meeting today!"
"The cheerleading camp?" I asked casually. "Why would you bother with the practice anyway? I thought the camp is only there for you cheerleaders to fraternize with the footballers."
Jackie grimaced and said, "Not anymore. Five years ago, ALL of the cheerleaders at school got pregnant because they held the football practice and the cheerleading camp together. Since then, they had separated the cheerleaders and the footballers' practices."
I chuckled and sat down on the sofa, drinking my coffee.
Then, I checked the next episode's countdown.
'Oh, there's almost a month before the next episode.'
I could enjoy the rest of my summer now, doing whatever I wanted.
But when I checked the name of the future episode, I was more devastated than the Punisher dreaming of his family getting killed again.
"No, no, no, no, no."
"Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait."
The future episode name… 'Jackie Bags Hyde.'
"You can't do this to me!"