[Hyde POV]
Monday afternoon at school.
I was held back by Mrs Ling, my math teacher. We stood at the hall just by the class door and had a serious talk.
"Steven Hyde. Your school attendance is atrocious." She said sternly.
"Thanks." I said, proud of myself.
"Don't smirk! It's inexcusable." She admonished me. "Attendance plays a lot of factors too for you to get into college."
"Well, since I'm not going to college, it's–"
"You could actually be the first person in the town to go to an Ivy league University. So, I have created a plan for you." She handed me a piece of paper.
I grabbed it instinctively. "So, I have no say in this?" I asked, slightly caught off guard.
"Yes. You don't." She replied sternly. Her eyes were steady, and there was not an ounce of hesitation behind it.
I raised my eyebrow and finally read the paper.
"The Big Brother program? Aren't I too old to get a Big Brother now?"
"You're not getting a Big Brother. You're getting a Little Brother." Mrs Ling explained after an eyeroll.
I widened my eyes in shock.
"You want me to mentor someone?... Me?... I tried to set my elementary school on fire because they put me on this. Now you want me to be the Big Brother?"
She blinked, "Wait. Did you burn down the–"
"No, I was out of town that week." I defended myself instantly.
Our elementary school did burn down. So I might seem like a suspect, but I didn't do it.
She stared at me with suspicion for a few seconds.
"Anyway." She changed the subject. "I already registered you for the program. You will be getting your little brother today, after school."
I grimaced, really annoyed. "I have a lot of things to do. I can't handle having a little brother."
"To be clear, this is a punishment." She gave me my report card.
"Should I get this from my homeroom teacher?" I asked in surprise.
She narrowed her eyes again, "You didn't know I had become your homeroom teacher, did you?"
I cleared my throat, pretending I didn't say that. "Punishment for what?"
"For not getting all A's in your test." She said as she pointed at the report card. "69, 69, 70, 68, and 100 for math. Why is your test score so low?"
"Oh, I'm trying to recreate what Fez did on his last test. But I failed." I laughed slightly. I was playing around with the other subjects, but not Mrs Ling's, since I expected her to be angry.
I didn't expect her to be promoted to a homeroom teacher instead of just being a substitute.
She sighed in disappointment and said, "There's only the final exam left. Don't play around with that."
"I won't. Also, back to this. Can't I get away with it somehow?" I flapped the paper for a bit.
"It's just for an hour after school. And if you're bored doing homework, just bring him with you to the places you go." She said adamantly.
Then, she smiled, " If he saw someone like him had made a name for himself, maybe he wouldn't try to burn down his own school too."
I paused and got a little intrigued, "Wait. He's an arsonist too?"
"Too?" Mrs Ling narrowed her eyes at me. I flinched again.
I gulped my saliva and said, "I'll do it."
More accurately, I was forced to do it.
At the school hallway, Kat Peterson, the girl who looked like a blonde Amy Adams from her younger years approached me while I was putting books into my locker.
"Hello Steven." She greeted sweetly, fidgeting with her feet and biting her lower lips slightly.
"Hi Kat." I replied nonchalantly.
"So, what are you doing after this?" She asked, hands on her waist.
"I'm trapped. Have to go be a Big Brother and help some kids with his homework."
"That's… so hot." She used a sultry voice on purpose, touching my arm slightly. "You're so responsible… and mature…"
"Yeah. Well." I shrugged and turned away.
She was slightly taken aback and said hurriedly, "Um. My parents aren't home tonight. Do you want to go back to my place to hang out? I have beer."
I didn't want to at first, but who would reject free beers?
"Sure." I replied casually.
She smiled in satisfaction and said, "See you at 7."
Fez and Kelso dropped their jaws as they saw their entire thing.
"Dude, that's Kat Peterson." Kelso said begrudgingly.
"Yeah. That's her." I said dismissively.
Fez stammered, "Why is the most popular girl in school talking to you?"
"Did she just invite you back to her house?" Kelso was jealous. "Man! You're so lucky! If I didn't have a ball and chain restricting me, I'd go after her too!"
"Jackie's also popular!" Fez rebuked him.
"Yeah, but I already have Jackie." Kelso said, nodding slightly. "I just want to add some flavor into the relationship. It's getting bland now."
I rolled my eyes slightly. He sure did love to pretend to be a player.
Even though he was whipped. Although… he cheated on her a lot. With most of Jackie's friends in the cheerleader group, a teacher, and Laurie.
After he cheated with Laurie, it was like something unleashed and he became a super cheater.
"Then, just break up with Jackie." I told him.
"Maybe I will." He said with a challenged expression.
"Really?" Fez gleamed in expectation. He wanted to be with Jackie.
The bell rang again, and it was time for lunch.
As I walked down the hallway, I saw Amy selling beaded necklaces out of her locker.
Several girls were there, buying the accessory from her. They were giggling and touching the necklace.
I approached her, which made my friends quite baffled. "Hey Amy. How's it going?"
"Hyde!" She was excited to see me. "It's pretty great! I've sold tens of them."
"Noice." I smiled and said, "You can start selling them at the hut if you want."
"REALLY!? Thank you!" She accidentally hugged me in excitement.
Fez bit his lips and said, "Why does he get all the girls?!"
Kelso was also annoyed. "Yeah. I'm the handsome one. I was the one who's supposed to make out with them all!"
Barbara, my ex, and also Amy's best friend saw the sight from afar. "Amy?" She called softly.
Amy widened her eyes in shock, released me and turned to her best friend.
"Wait. Barbara. You have the wrong idea–"
Barbara stomped away, and Amy hurriedly followed her from behind.
I ignored the dramas and said to the girls there, "Who wants to buy some necklace? You? The cute one with the braces?"
The girl giggled and swooned. "Yeah. I want to buy one." She said gleefully.
I helped Amy with some of her sales until she came back. The teachers didn't really care about the sales, since it was the 70s.
As long as it wasn't anything illegal, they'll close one eye and pretend they didn't see anything.
As school ended, Eric, Donna and I stood in front of Eric's Vista Cruiser, checking out our report cards.
To my surprise, the episode began filming as Donna spoke.
"Hey, check it out. I got an "F" on my report card." She said gleefully.
Eric turned to face her. I leaned on the car and checked my own card.
"An "F"? What'd you fail?" He asked.
"English." She nodded, amused with the situation.
"Isn't that what we speak?" He asked, slightly sarcastic, partly concerned.
"Hey, I got a "B" in Spanish." I figured I need to add a joke since it was the opening scene so I hit them with, "When did I start taking Spanish?"
Donna and Eric laughed, then Donna reached into her bag and took out a box of cigarettes. She lit it up and began smoking it, huffing the smoke out confidently.
"Whoa. Donna, that's a cigarette." Eric was flabbergasted. His eyes were focused on her hand.
"Thank you Captain Obvious." I said to him with annoyance, which made him a bit embarrassed.
"Donna… you're smoking a cigarette?" Eric said again.
"Even worse, it's a menthol." I grimaced with disgust. Then, I teased her, "You're gonna get suspended, little lady."
She was slightly annoyed and amused.
"When did you start smoking?" Eric asked with concern.
"What? You just saw me light it." Donna huffed smoke out of her mouth.
"That's ha, ha, ha." Eric pretended to laugh. "Come on, Donna. You know smoking causes cancer." He added.
Eric and Red were one of the rare few people in the town who didn't smoke. Even Mrs Forman smoked once in a while. She was trying to quit though.
"I know, but it makes me look cool, so it's an even trade." Donna quipped.
"Nice." I accidentally blurted out, which made her laugh and Eric got even more concerned.
"Hold this?" She gave the cig to Eric while she kept the box inside her bag.
Eric held it straight up, like holding incense, far away from him.
"Oh, jeez, Forman, hold it like a man, would ya?" I snapped.
"Shut up!" He scolded me, and then leaned on the car, crossing his arms , pretending he was the one who was smoking and looking cool.
"Wow, Donna, first you fail English, now you're smoking? Can I ask you what, what are you doing?" Eric asked Donna.
"Smoking. Failing." She replied casually.
The teacher who used to be my homeroom teacher came out of the door, and caught us.
"Hey, Forman. Smoking on school property?" He asked Eric with a glare.
"No, that's not his. That's mine." Donna said quickly from behind the teacher.
"No, it's, uh.. It's mine." Eric said and took a drag. He bit the cigarette and pretended to enjoy it. "Yeah. Mmm…. Menthol."
"Eric, quit it!" Donna snapped at him, bewildered by his sacrifice.
The teacher was focused on Eric. "Yeah, ok. Let's go, Forman." he dragged him by his arm to go to the principal's office.
I picked up the cigarette Eric threw to the ground and took a drag.
"Dios mio. (Oh my god)" I waggled my fingers together. "No es bueno. (That's not good)"
The filming ended, yet my day continued.
I reached my hand to Donna and said, "Give me the box."
"Fine!" She rolled her eyes and gave it to me.
"And the lighter too."
"FINE!" She snapped angrily and stomped away like a petulant child.
…
I went to the elementary school as Mrs Ling told me I needed to go pick that kid up there. I had to go to the elementary school's teacher's office.
At first, I didn't see the kid, so I thought he had left.
"Maybe he's at the gym." The teacher there told me.
I sighed and said, "I'll take a look."
When I got to the gym, I heard some noises coming from the back of the building so I went there.
There, I saw three big kids surrounding a smaller one. It was a fight.
"Hoo." I muttered, slightly impressed by the little kid's balls. He wasn't backing down, even a little bit.
He got punched in the face, but he immediately punched the guy back, kicked him in the balls and pushed him down on the gravel.
Then, the other two joined in and held him. That's when I interjected and kicked the two fatsos in the butt.
"I don't know what happened here, but it's done now." I told them.
The three kids were startled and they ran away hurriedly.
"You're Dustin?" I asked.
"Who're you?" He asked, keeping his guard up.
I smiled and said, "I'm your Big Brother. Steven Hyde. Nice to meet you."
He didn't accept my handshake. "Are you going to rat me out?" He asked.
I shook my head and said, "No. And shake my hand. It's rude to keep the other person hanging."
He shook my hand reluctantly.
Then, I brought the kid to the Hub with me. "Here, get whatever you want." I gave him three dollars.
"Great." The 10 year old kid with a wooden bead necklace and washed-out black clothes took the money happily.
He bought hot dogs for himself.
"Give me five minutes alright?" I told him.
He nodded and said, "I can do my homework on my own. You don't have to check on me."
"Alright. I won't hover, but I will make sure you did it right. Deal?"
"Deal."
We shook hands on it and I went to the side table with all of my friends while he did his homework at a table with his friends.
"Eric Forman's first suspension. I'm so proud." I smiled excitedly as I drank my soda.
"No way. Back up. Why'd he get suspended?" Kelso asked.
"Because he's stupid." Donna shot at Eric. Eric looked at her with a slight dissatisfaction.
"They can do that?" Kelso asked, fully worried that the school would suspend him for having no brain.
Donna grimaced. "No. He told them it was his cigarette, and that's stupid."
"Please, Donna, stop." Eric said sarcastically. "Don't fall all over yourself thanking me."
"I didn't need your help." Donna snapped again.
"Yeah, Forman. I think she wants to get in trouble. It's Donna's little cry for help." looked at her and used a girlish voice to mock. "Help me! Help me!"
I added, "We hear you, Donna, and we love you."
"Get bent. You guys are jerks." She stomped away angrily.
"Wait. Why am I a jerk? I don't even know what's going on!" Kelso complained.
"This is great. Why'd I even take the fall? I mean, Donna doesn't care. And, you know, Red's gonna kill me." Eric whined.
"Relax, Forman, he's not gonna…" I blinked. "Oh, wait. Did you say kill you? Yeah, you're right." I laughed at his misery.
"Hyde, this isn't funny. On Red's list of screw-ups, getting suspended from school is right up there… with backing over my mom." Eric rubbed his face in frustration.
"Hey, man. Having a chick is about sacrifice." Kelso tried to help him. "Like Jackie. She wants to decorate my van with some of her girly stuff, right? So I tell her she can have one stuffed animal… In the glove box. See? Sacrifice."
"Kelso, remember how you used to put your whole fist in your mouth?" I asked him abruptly.
He smiled, "Yeah."
"Do it now." I said abruptly.
"Damn, why is everybody so crabby today?" Kelso grimaced and whined.
Jackie and Fez came to the restaurant, with Fez carrying a large beige suitcase.
"What's in the suitcase?" Kelso asked, smiling obliviously.
"Stuffed animals for the van, remember?" Jackie said. "Look, Michael, I know we agreed on just one, but then I got to thinking, and well, I want them all."
"But…" Kelso's face froze.
"But what Michael?" Jackie asked with a domineering tone.
"But… Okay." He lowered his head like a domesticated dog and gave up.
"Oh!! Ease up on her, Kelso." I said sarcastically.
Eric threw his words back to him, "You know, sacrifice is hard."
Kelso stood up, grabbed Jackie and left. Fez sat at the table and spoke to me.
"So, my host parents set me up on a blind date, and she has a friend for you, Hyde."
"Finally, somebody to love." I smiled and sipped my soda.
"And it gets better. They're not even blind." Fez joked and laughed all on his own. "Get it? Blind."
Eric and I looked at him with a blank expression.
"Screw you. That's funny." Fez grimaced and cursed us, which made both of us laugh.
"Wait, Hyde. Didn't Kat Peterson ask you out tonight?" Eric asked me as Fez went to buy food for himself.
"Yeah."
"So, you're not going?" Eric asked again.
"I figured Fez will need some help. So I'll talk to Kat and postpone." I said casually.
Eric nodded and said, "Yeah. He's going to need someone there to make sure he didn't make a fool of himself."
…
I sent the kid home with my car after Eric finally had some courage to go back home.
Fez was with me since he wanted to make sure I would go on a blind date with him.
"Dustin. Did you live here for a long time?" I asked him as I entered the familiar neighborhood.
"Unlike you, I grew up poor. So…" Dustin said sarcastically, a little defensive.
"Pfft–" Fez almost laughed and said, "Hyde. Isn't this where you live?"
Dustin widened his eyes. "You lived around here?"
"Yeah. See that house?" I pointed at a small shack with less than 700 square feet of space and was really run down. "That's where I used to live."
The paints were all chipping, the window's broken, the door was pried away and people could see straight inside where there's only a broken couch in there.
I heard rumors that the house got robbed once I went to live with Mrs Forman, but the robbers would be disappointed honestly, since there was nothing inside.
"Wait. You're that missing kid? The scary guy?" Dustin was shocked. "You drive a muscle car!? A Chevelle!"
I smirked at him. Fez added from the backseat, "He has like, three cars."
Dustin's mouth couldn't close for a while. He looked at me with shock and awe.
His house was almost like mine, although it was a bit more maintained.
I saw a little kid, around 4 years old, playing alone in front of the house, riding a rocking horse shirtless even though it was 7 degrees outside.
Dustin got startled and jumped out of the car immediately. "STEVE! GO INSIDE!"
The kid flinched as his brother went home and he ran away hurriedly.
"Thank you for driving me." Dustin replied to me politely. I nodded and asked, "Are your parents home?"
"No, my mom will come back around dinner time." He was embarrassed and definitely didn't want me to stick around.
I was a bit confused. "What about that kid I just saw?"
"My grandma…" Dustin was a little guarded. "What's with the questions? You're writing a book?" He snapped at me.
"Speaking off books." I gave him his backpack he left in the car through the window.
"Same time tomorrow." I said casually.
An old lady came out of the door and asked loudly, "DUSTIN! WHO IS THAT?!"
"JUST A FRIEND!" He shouted from the driveway.
"BRING HIM IN!"
"NO GRANDMA!!"
"DON'T BE SHY!"
The grandmother was really loud. She smiled the entire time.
I thought it would be rude to reject her so I went inside. Fez was scared so he stayed in the car.
There were around 6 people inside the house. The two kids, two fully grown men, one middle aged woman, and the grandmother.
The living situation reminded me of my childhood years where my uncles were living together with me.
At one point, I had around 9 people inside the small house, bickering and sleeping shirtless to save money on doing laundry.
The kid didn't even have a place of his own. He studied in the living room, next to the TV.
Dustin looked really embarrassed by me coming inside his house, but I told him I lived like this before, so I was very familiar with it.
The grown men had criminal records, so they couldn't find their own place or a stable job.
The middle aged woman was the wife of one of the men. The grandmother has a disability so she looked after the children.
Only the mother was working hard to feed the family and find the money for rent for now.
I didn't stay much and left the neighborhood afterward to go on the blind date. On my way back, I saw something interesting by the window of my former house.
A for sale sign by the city.
…
After going back home to change into nicer clothes, Fez and I drove to The Hub together.
He wore a leisure suit, and I wore a simple black button down shirt.
We waited for the girls to arrive. I talked with Fez to prepare him in the meantime. Suddenly, the recording started again.
"I'm nervous." Fez said with a whine.
"Don't be nervous. You'll get sweaty." I admonished him.
"Oh, no. Too late." Fez whined. "I can't help it. This is my first official American date." He shook his hands, trying to remove the nervousness.
"That's why I'm here, Fez. To help you out, man." I said with a smile. "Remember what I told you?"
"If you cough, change the conversation."
"Good. and?"
"Let them talk about themselves."
"And why is that?"
"They'll notice I'm weird if I talk too much."
I nodded while Fez was slightly demotivated.
{-2 Favorability}
"Good. I'm going to make sure you can make out with one of them today. So trust me."
{+2 Favorability}
Fez gleamed and said, "Thanks Hyde. Wait. They are here. And they're not even uggos."
"No, they're hot." I stood up to greet them. "And the blonde's blonde and hot."
"Yes, and since I set us up on this date, she's mine, right?" Fez said to me excitedly.
"Are you sure you're ready for the challenge Fez?" I asked.
"Yes!" He replied.
"Okay then. I'll take the redhead."
We went to greet the girls. I shook hands with the red headed girl– Patty, while Fez greeted the blonde who was eyeing him up and down with a smile.