First day of 8th grade point place Wisconsin.

Steven Hyde checked his class schedule one last time to be sure he had the right room and pushed the door open with a sigh, he hadn't slept worth crap and could think of a lot of places he'd rather be than school. He briefly hoped that this year maybe the teacher would assign a book that didn't make him want to wretch, but seven previous years told him it wasn't going to happen.

He looked around the half full room for a seat he could stand to spend the next nine months in and eventually decided on one in the second to last row (never pick the last row, the teachers notice you faster there), it was near the window, scenery could help the day pass more smoothly. The down side was that his new seat was a little too close to a group of chattering preppie looking girls, he was already gritting his teeth at their laughter, but refused to move away from them – it was a sign of weakness to give up that quickly.

He was half way through a very nice day dream about getting to go back stage at a zeppelin concert and meet his idols, when one of the giggling girls took the seat right next to him and turned her attention away from her cronies and inexplicably, onto him?

"hi" she said so brightly he winced "my names Jackie Burkhart, what's yours?" she asked with a 1000-watt smile.

Luckily his shades protected him from the glare.

"Hyde" he replied shortly,

"from what?" his new neighbor asked with a frown,

Hyde rolled his eyes and sighed "no man, my names Hyde H-Y-D-E, get it?" he asked a little more annoyed than he'd intended.

"oh" she said nodding that she got it "what's your last name?" she asked then

"that is my last name"

"well then what's your first name?" she asked looking confused

"none of your business" he informed her curtly

"you know that I'll find out in about five minutes, anyway right?" she asked with a good-natured grin, somehow, he still hadn't managed to scare her off.

"will you now?" he asked thinking she was issuing a challenge

She copied his own smirk and spoke one word "rollcall"

Shit! He thought angrily, she was right!

"Steven, but do not ever call me that" he told her with the growl he used to intimidate pretty much everyone around him, it had never failed him.

Until now.

"do you want a banana Steven?" she asked totally impervious to his intimidation.

He eyed the yellow fruit she held out suspiciously

"no" he told her flatly, saved from further conversation by the teacher calling them to order.

As he suspected earlier, the teachers first act was to assign them reading material that made him want to commit arson. Why did English teachers all love Shakespeare so much? Was it like in a contract they all signed?!

Whatever the reason he was none too pleased to be on the hook to read and interoperate a play of his choosing over the next week, to make matters even worse the class had been split into partners for the project, not to mention the rest of the damn school year! And wouldn't you know who he'd been teamed up with?

"so, Steven, I was thinking we could pick Romeo and Juliet" Jackie said as she followed him out of class without asking if he minded.

"no way in hell" he snapped angrily, Shakespeare was bad enough, but he had a special hatred for the play she spoke of, stupid romantic bullshit!

"that's fine, do you like taming of the shrew? It's a lot funnier than Romeo and Juliet, Macbeth has a murder in it if that makes it more interesting" she chattered on, oblivious to the fact he was trying to lose her in the crowded hallway while he searched for his history class, but she followed along without trouble all the way there.

"look Jackie, I don't care what play we read, I don't want to read any of them so it doesn't really matter, as long as it's not that sappy love story crap it doesn't matter what you pick for us ok?" he finally yelled at her,

She'd followed him all the way into his history class and talked away at him while he searched for a seat, until he'd lost his temper and yelled. He felt a little bit bad for yelling, he hadn't meant to, he just wanted her to stop.

She stared at him for a moment looking shocked and hurt that he'd been so mean over such a small thing, he didn't know what to say? He was so put off by the expression on her face that he couldn't even remember how an apology was phrased.

She sank into the seat beside him and hid her face, but he could see her tiny shoulders shaking slightly and he felt like a total dick. He hadn't meant to make her cry, yeah, she was being annoying but…he hadn't meant to make her cry.

"hey uh, Jackie…um, this class is about to start your going to be late for yours if you don't get going" he muttered awkwardly.

She raised her head from her arms but didn't look in his direction. She did however, reach into her bag and pull out the same history text book he'd been issued for the class.

Well hell, he really did have some kind of luck, didn't he?

It was hard to tell from her profile, but he was pretty sure it was obvious she'd been crying, and if history was anything to go by, he was going to be in deep shit as soon as the teacher spotted the nicely dressed girl next to him with tear stained cheeks. Sure enough, their teacher was already making his way towards Jackie, and as luck would have it, it was Mr. brooks - who he'd had last year and already hated him! Yay….

"is he bothering you miss Burkhart?" Mr. brooks asked in a falsely kind voice

Jackie looked up at the teacher with big confused eyed

"who sir?" she asked him blankly

"Steven Hyde" he said, shooting Hyde a dark suspicious glare

"why would Steven be bothering me?" she asked tilting her head to side in confusion.

Mr. brooks stuttered uncomfortably as he tried to find the right words to explain why girls like Jackie should avoid a boy like Hyde, it was hilarious and it was all Hyde could do not to let it show on his face.

"a spider crawled on my leg and scared me, Steven killed it for me though" she lied like a pro, and Hyde was impressed he had to admit.

"oh, well in that case…class is about to start you two so get your notebooks out" he told them sternly and walked back to his desk.

"thanks" Hyde whispered

"whatever" Jackie replied disinterestedly,

The need for an apology grew, Hyde knew very well that one word from her just then could have made his life a living hell, but she'd lied for him after he'd yelled at her? He didn't understand helping people after they'd been a jerk, but he did know that he was wrong and he should say something.

He decided he'd find her before the end of the day which would give him time to work out what he would say, but when he walked out of history she was still there at his side?

"Jackie" he asked with a dawning suspicion "what's your next class?"

She glanced at her schedule "pre – algebra room 115" she read off with a shrug.

Hyde groaned inwardly but didn't let it show, that was his next class too. He didn't want to be a jerk again so soon after she'd saved his ass but how many classes was he going to be in with the tiny chatterbox?!

A lot as it turned out.

Besides English and history, Hyde came to find that he had also math, social studies and lunch with her, she wasn't in his gym class or science or homeroom – which he only found out the next day, since he hadn't shown up the first day – but that meant that most of his day was spent around Jackie, and for some reason he couldn't fathom, she took a seat next to him in every class.

She would start each day by offering him a banana – which he refused sullenly, then she'd chatter on about their project - that he had done nothing for so far, and she would keep talking as she followed him to history. This kept up until he managed to slip away before lunch, she'd caught his eye the second day when she'd seen him in the lunch room, and he'd been sure she would do what she'd done in all their mutual classes, and just take a seat next to him like she owned it, but she hadn't?

He was surprised but a little relieved, she was a lot – all the time, so so much talking and somehow that he couldn't put his finger on exactly? She took up a lot more of a room than made sense from a scientific viewpoint, she wasn't even five feet tall and yet when she walked into a room she was all you could see? It must be her multi colored wardrobe? Or maybe how loud her voice was?

Hyde knew that none of those reasons were the answer, it was something else but he didn't know what yet. What he did know was that no matter how bad he felt about yelling at her, it was going to happen again and soon, if she didn't let up on all the Romeo and Juliet talk! He hadn't spoken to her apart from turning down her offer of a banana every day, but that didn't stop her from keeping up an almost constant stream of speech towards him!

She would recite parts of the play, theorize about the motivations of the characters, throw out several different thoughts on what the meanings behind certain aspects were, all while Hyde glared, grimaced and rolled his eyes.

He was already stressed out from how bad it was at home at the moment, and Jackie's constant talk was pushing him past the brink. And then after a particularly bad night with Edna and his newest 'uncle', Hyde walked into English class, tired and pissed off. He sat heavily in his seat and closed his eyes behind his shades, a little rest and he'd be able to make it through the day without losing it, his temper was so much worse when he hadn't slept.

"good morning Steven! Do you want a banana? So, the project – "she began in her usual chirpy voice and wide smile and Hyde snapped.

"no! god, what is wrong with you?! Every freakin' day you ask me and every day I say no, what does it take for you to back the hell off?! And in case you haven't noticed I don't give a damn about the stupid project man! Just leave me alone Jackie!" he demanded angrily, glaring at her like he loathed her very existence.

Jackie stared back in shock, she was aware that, she was a lot more energetic than most people, but if she had done something to deserve his outburst she had no idea what?

She bit her lip to keep from crying, but it was no use. He watched with a sinking feeling as her eyes (that he just now noticed were different colors) filled with tears, and he heard everything he'd just said to her replay in his head and he would have kicked his own ass if he could!

His mouth opened and closed like a dying fish, while he tried to think of something – anything to say to her to stop her crying, and not just because he'd get in trouble over it. But he didn't get a chance, because before he could say a damn thing, Mr. brooks was calling them to come up and present their project?

Hyde felt his stomach drop, was it time already? How had he run out of time without even starting to work on it? They were totally screwed! He glanced at Jackie and his jaw dropped, she had pulled herself together in a flash and pulled a file folder out of her bag. Head held high she marched to the front of the class with him slinking along behind her, opening the folder she handed him a piece of paper with a large print title at the top 'counter points'?

She began speaking with the ease of someone not afraid of public speaking, and turned to him when it was his turn to read off his sheet, it was a subtle que and he knew he didn't deserve it. When he started reading his part it became clear that she had used his annoyed reactions for whatever she'd been talking about and turned them into actual counterpoints to her statements? He was in awe.

Not just of how much work she'd put in without his help, but of how well she had done the actual work, she had turned his gut reactions into coherent words that backed up a point of view, it was like spinning straw into gold. But not only that, but she had also managed to make his part sound enough like him that it seemed like he'd done his part of the project? How but more importantly why?

He'd been nothing but rude to her since the moment they'd met a week before, but here he was standing in front of a teacher who hated him, not in danger of getting an F.

Finally, it was over, and they took their seats while the next team took the place, Hyde looked over at Jackie and saw that she was purposefully ignoring him. He had it coming and he knew it, but he still didn't like it.

He completely ignored the rest of the presenters and thought over what he had to do – what he could do, to thank her and maybe…say…sorry.

As soon as class ended though, Jackie was up and heading towards the door like there'd been a starting shot he'd missed?

"hey Jackie, wait up!" he called out, hating how lame he sounded. He half expected her to ignore him like he deserved but in testament to her character she stopped and waited for him as he'd asked.

"what do you want Hyde?" she asked coldly

"I wanted to say um…." He really, really sucked at this crap.

"I'm going to be late" she pointed out still in the unfriendly tone he'd earned now.

"I'm sorry I yelled at you this morning, and the other time, I don't have anything to say for myself, and I wanted to thank you for saving my ass with the project" he explained, awkwardly rubbing the back of his neck while he spoke.

"I was just trying to remind you the project was due today and give you your part so you could read through it, why did you yell at me like that?" she asked with a noticeable wobble in her bottom lip.

God, he was a piece of crap, a stupid short-sighted piece of crap.

"I didn't get much sleep last night and I sometimes lose my temper over dumb shit when I'm tired" he explained his pathetic reason, feeling like he wanted to crawl into a hole and die.

Jackie was staring at him – hard, her face was impossible for him to read and he felt a little nervous?

"I do that too" she finally said, in a voice full of far more understanding than he deserved.

"oh?" he didn't know what to say?

"I was just trying to be friends Hyde, but I get it that you don't like me and don't want to be friends, so…bye" she said looking small for the first time since he'd met her, and it was his fault.

"I'm allergic to bananas" he in a rush as Jackie was turning to leave.

"huh?" she asked turning back to him with a startled expression.

"that's why I always say no when you ask if I want one, I'm allergic, I get like this weird hive rash thing if I even touch one" he wasn't sure why he was telling her all this?

"why didn't you just tell me that, instead of being all angry about it every day?" she asked reasonably

"I don't know?" he shrugged awkwardly

"we should get to class Hyde" she pointed out

"you uh…you can call me Steven" he told her praying to whoever would listen that he wasn't blushing.

The smallest smile touched her face, and she nodded slightly without making a big deal about it before turning and gesturing him to follow her to math class.

"so, Steven" she began closer to her usual happy tone "do you want an orange?" she asked grinning and holding out the fruit to him.

He couldn't help but laugh, "sure" he accepted and took the orange from her hand, then raised a curious eyebrow "how much fruit do you carry at a given time?" he asked

"a lot" she admitted wryly

"is your ambition to be a fruit vendor or something?"

"it's every little girls dream Steven" she said totally serious, before bursting into laughter at the look on his face "I need the sugar is all, I don't know if you've noticed but I burn through a lot of energy and if I don't eat some fruit every little while I get sort of sick? So, my maid loads me up with fruit every day, and I didn't know how else to try and make friends with you" she explained

Hyde thoughtfully pealed his orange while they walked, he had to admit that if you took his tendency to be irritated at school out of the equation, Jackie wasn't bad at all.

"I'm in" he told her casually

"what now?" she said not getting what he was saying

"being friends, I'm in" he elaborated

"you are?" she said, stopping in her tracks and staring up at him looking far more hopeful than the prospect of being friends with the likes of him warranted.

"hey man, if you could write my half of our project just from the looks I gave you when you said stuff that means you get me better than almost anyone I've ever known. And even though I've been a royal jerk to you since we met a week ago, you've had my back more than once which makes you a lot cooler than most people I've known too, so how about it, friends?" he asked holding out his hand to her.

The brightest smile he'd seen on her face yet appeared and her tiny hand clasped his firmly

"friends" she agreed happily