A/N: Hello, everyone! This story is part of the 2017 Zenmasters Anthology project idealized by MistyMountainHop and PoetDameron on tumblr (check out the page for more info). This year's theme is Soulmates, and my prompt: Premonitions! I'll be hopefully posting a new chapter every week, so stay tuned. Hope you enjoy it!

Disclaimer 1: I own nothing and no money is being made through this story.

Disclaimer 2: The story cover was made by MistyMountainHop for the 2017 Zenmasters Anthology on tumblr. All credits to her.

A GLIMPSE OF YOU

Chapter ONE

The blue veins slowly moved on her left arm. Lying on her side, her still blurred eyes tried to focus on the deforming skin of her wrist, waiting to see what the bloody oracle would have for her this morning.

It had been like this since Jackie could remember. Every morning, her chestnut eyes would drift open after a long night of sleep and moments later the purple veins would start dancing around over the thin skin of her left wrist. She would spend a few minutes in bed afterwards, trying to figure what wonderful message was being displayed just for her, a message about her true love. Her knight in shining armor. Her one and only soulmate.

She could remember the first time she noticed the phenomenon on her arm. She darted down the stairs still on her purple pajamas and extended her wrist for her mom who was having a cup of coffee at the kitchen counter. Her eyes were teary and frightened, but Pam smiled her sweet smile in awe.

"This is a clue about your soulmate, sweetie," the mother told her six-year old daughter, caressing her wrist with her perfectly manicured thumb. "Each and every one of us has got someone very special waiting for us out there, and this is a clue about something that's gonna happen to them today."

It was like a fairy tale in real life. From that day on, it was almost impossible to count down all the different fantasies she'd made up about the moment she would finally meet her prince charming, just like the princesses in the stories. Day after day, new scenarios were made up, new features were added to her dream boy, new discoveries were made. She'd celebrated his victories with him and cried over his dark times, all of it without even knowing who he was.

But she eventually found him. She was a freshman in high school and he'd asked her out one day by her locker. God, he was so handsome! It was no exaggeration to say he was the best looking guy in school. After a few dates, her Nancy Drew brain had already matched the clues and facts.

Her soulmate answered by the name of Michael Kelso.

She was just so damn lucky to find him in such an early age. Heavens had been kind to her and sent a Greek god to be her true love. He came from a fine family, had great hair, was kind, funny and obedient – well, most of the times. But even during their tough times, Jackie had fought hard to keep them together, after all, they were soulmates, for Pete's sake! It was destiny to say the least.

Then why wasn't she so thrilled this morning while looking at her arm? Why didn't she seem that much eager for her daily premonition?

The bluish drawing still looked blurry, but Jackie already felt her heart skip in anticipation. Three diagonal lines popped up eventually forming what looked like the letter A. It was definitely a test score, and, most definitely, it wasn't Michael's.

She felt bad for thinking that little about her boyfriend, but the truth was he hadn't been blessed with intelligence at all. During their one and a half year together as a couple, Michael had never scored more than a B minus on any subject, not even English, and that was his freaking native language. However, she was aware of someone who was smart and was supposed to have a Spanish test today.

No, that drawing absolutely did not concerned Michael Kelso, and apparently, none of the previous ones according to her latest observations. Michael skinny dipping, Michael's brother, Casey, leaving for the army, Michael moving into his room, the cool leather jacket she'd given to Michael. None of those things seemed to belong to him anymore. Not even counting the innumerous times the message would be about sex, and they wouldn't end up making love those days.

Her stomach knotted uncomfortably at the realization and she realized she'd been holding her breath for a while. This couldn't be right. Or could it be? Maybe she had been brain washed by her fantasies of marrying the perfect guy and ignored every other signal that diverged from the beautiful path leading to Michael. Maybe his beauty had blinded her from the ugly truth. Or maybe she was just stupid, but Jackie Burkhart wasn't dumb.

She had to finally admit it.

Steven Hyde was her soulmate.

The apple juice tasted like medicine on her tongue. In fact, none of the items on her tray seemed appetizing today. Life didn't seem appetizing. She hadn't been able to concentrate on History class and almost failed an English quiz before lunch, all because she couldn't stop thinking about that stupid A drawn on her arm. The guy who most despised her was the one she should be with? That was just non-sense.

"JACKIE!"

Donna's voice startled her, finally pulling her back to real life.

"What? Why are you yelling, you lumberjack?" She spat at her friend. Donna sat across her at the table, the fork on her hand playing with the barely touched food.

"You haven't listened to anything I said, have you?"

"Of course I did! You were talking about stupid Eric and how bad of a kisser he is."

"Hey! First of all, Eric is a very good kisser, trust me." Donna corrected her friend, pointing the empty fork at her, and Jackie made a face out of disgust. "And second, that was not what I was talking about. Mr. Bonkers is missing for two days and I'm worried, Jackie."

"Whatever. He might be flirting around the other kittens around town. He'll be back," the brunette told her friend, rather unenthusiastic. Usually she would be interested in Donna's life, mostly to give her a piece of wisdom or to make a backhanded compliment, but today the sparkle in her eye was gone.

"What's wrong with you, midget?"

Jackie dropped her own fork on the metallic tray and looked around. None of the boys were to be seen, so she stared into Donna's eyes and sighed heavily.

"Donna, can I ask you a question?"

The red head made a face. It was not every day that you have Jackie Burkhart to ask you for advice instead of giving one.

"Yeah, sure."

"How do you know Eric is your soulmate? I mean, are you even sure he is your soulmate?"

"Well, I guess I've known it for a long time. I mean, we've been friends since I can remember. I just connected the dots." She shrugged with a blissful smile on her lips. "But you know, maybe I'm wrong. Maybe another guy on the opposite side of the globe happens to do the same things Eric does and he is my real soulmate." She chuckled. "But I'm happy right now and maybe that's what matters, right?"

Jackie's only response was an upset groan, and Donna's dreamy stare turned back to her friend.

"What's wrong? Why are you asking me that?"

The short girl hesitated for a moment. It was hard to admit it out loud.

"I don't think Michael is my soulmate."

"Oh."

"Yeah." Jackie looked down, more dismayed than Donna had ever seen her.

"But do you have an idea of who it might be?"

"Yes," she answered in an even gloomier way.

"Damn, he might be a real drag to have you moping like this."

"You have no idea."

"Then tell me who is he." Donna smiled broadly, tugging on her petite friend's hand from across the table, but Jackie didn't looked very willing to do so, especially when she spotted the boys walking over to their table, trays of food in hand.

"I'll tell you when I'm sure of it." She gathered her stuff in a hurry and slid off the table. "I have to go to the library okay? I'll see you later."

Then she left quickly, not even waiting for Donna's goodbye and completely ignoring Michael as he called her out. Right now, the last thing she needed was to look at his pretty face. That pretty face that didn't belong to her.

The rest of the school day turned out to be a bum. Jackie still didn't manage to focus on class, and she even embarrassed herself at 6th period when Ms. McGee asked her the result of the equation on the board and her absentmindedly answer was 'Steven'. Her classmates laughed and her anger at Hyde grew bigger. He managed to screw her up even when he was not around.

She just wanted this day to be over. Only cheerleading practice could cheer her up right now so she hurried to throw her books in her locker and run to her green and white pompoms. The school halls were mostly empty and she was glad for it. She wasn't in the mood of making smiling faces to boost her popularity.

As she organized the books in alphabetical order inside the metal box, a voice coming from a few lockers away from hers popped up. A husky voice she knew pretty well.

"You know about my A, huh?"

In a swift motion, she half closed the metal door and looked over it, her eyes wider than disco globes.

"What did you say?"

"I said, you're in a rush today," Hyde repeated, grimacing at Jackie's odd manners.

"Oh," she scoffed, trying to regain composure. "Why do you care, Hyde?"

"I don't. I'm just messing with you." He grinned mockingly.

Jackie sighed upset. She was tired and angry at the universe for doing this to her. How come Steven Hyde, a boy whose main joy in life was to make her miserable, was her soulmate? She could admit it, but still not accept it. She refused to accept it.

"Whatever." She turned to her previous duty, not bothering to spat back at him. Hyde on the other hand, was taken aback by her behavior and closed his locker, walking over to her.

"Hey, are you okay?" His tone was much softer, one she'd never heard before. It was amicable, almost as if he cared, but it wasn't enough to make her distress go away. She couldn't trust him.

"Again, why do you care? Oh right, you don't," Jackie coldly said.

"There you are." Hyde smirked again satisfied, though she was still mad judging by her infuriated grunt.

"Why are you still in school, Hyde?" Now she angrily shoved the books in the pony-sticker covered box, trying to ignore Hyde's eyes on her as he slouched against the grey lockers beside her. "Don't you have some illegal business to do or girls to fool around?"

"First part, done. Second part, are you up to?"

Jackie slammed the metal door with a bang. Why her heart was racing so fast, she couldn't figure for sure. But when she looked up at the burnout and there was that stupid, stupid signature smirk painted on his face, she wanted to strangle him with her bare hands.

"Even if I were single, you would be the last person I'd want to make out with, Steven Hyde. You're poor and a trouble maker and mean." She punctuated every insult with a bold finger against his chest. His oddly firm chest…

"You're not that much of an example of kindness either, princess."

"Of course I'm not! You do horrible stuff to me all the time."

"But don't you see?" Hyde shrugged calmly as he followed her through the school halls. "You're mean to me, I'm mean to you, sometimes you kick me in the shins... That's our thing."

"Doesn't seem like a healthy relationship at all," Jackie murmured to herself, the intensity of her clogs on the cemented floor thankfully muting her words from Hyde.

"What?"

"Nothing, Hyde." She stopped on her tracks and turned to him, a hand splayed in between the two of them. "Just leave me alone, okay? I'm not having a good day."

"What? Little brains scored less than a B+ in math?" He joked, exchanging his notebook from one hand to another, his legs spread apart in that smug manner he usually had. Bastard. Jackie wanted to cry out of frustration, but couldn't give him this pleasure, so she just took away.

"If you don't have anything nice to say, just keep your mouth shut, Hyde." She marched down the hall towards the gym as the squeak of his worn-out boots indicated he was going the opposite direction. However, after a few steps she stopped and turned around again. Maybe that was the cue heavens were giving her to unravel her dilemma. "In fact, since we're talking about grades… how was your Spanish test today?"

The curly haired burnout stopped on his tracks and grimaced at her for the second time that day. "How do you know I had a test?"

"Unlike you, I listen to what my friends have to say."

That was a lie, and both of them knew it, but Hyde didn't bothered to know where the question was coming from. He was done messing with Jackie for today – at least on school grounds – and he just wanted to go home.

"I got a C. Why?" He said from several feet away, but the distance didn't hid how wide Jackie's eyes became. She took a few steps towards him, a tiny smile finally creeping on her lips.

"Are you sure? Are you sure it wasn't an A?"

Hyde's scowl only deepened. "Do you really think I'm the kind of guy who scores A, Jackie? C'mon, I have a reputation to zeal."

"Alright, alright." She nodded a few times, her smile broadening by the time. "And you didn't have another test today?"

"No."

"Okay." Jackie chuckled relieved, not able to release the grin on her face. In her heart, she said a silent prayer, thanking God for having mercy of her love life. Maybe she would even start going to church from now on. Happiness was tingling all around her body and before she noticed, her arms were around Hyde's neck, holding him in a tight embrace. "Thank you, Steven," his first name rolled out of her tongue, "you've made my day much better."

Then she skipped away down the hall, leaving an astonished Steven behind, totally missing the moment when he opened his notebook and took a single spread from inside of it. Encircled by a thick line, a big red A decorated the top right corner of the test.

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