Jekyll and Hyde (That '70s Show)

chapter 14 (punk chick)

SONG: Questioningly by Ramones (the acoustic version, more sentimental, trust me)

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Earl turned away from a customer he was talking to after she thanked him for his assistance and then walked over to Ida who was leaning on the front counter, chewing gum and glaring straight ahead of her at nothing in particular. 'What's up with the rage music all day?' He asked her.

It was Ida's turn to play music today and all she has been playing was heavy metal, Sabbath and Judas Priest. During the past few days, she's been sad and was listening to Meat Loaf and Wasted Time by the Eagles, but now, the feeling of misery and sorrow were replaced by anger and the wish to rip someone apart. Preferably Hyde. The two haven't been talking since Monday and it was Saturday today. Ida was pissed at him, he was pissed at her for being pissed at him, and even if they did talk, they'd insult each other, so they'd be pissed because of that as well.

'I was rummaging through your cassette box and found an interestingly titled one, so I wanted to play it,' Ida answered, uninterested in making a conversation with her boss. She was playing around with one of the bracelets Donna gifted her for Christmas, loving it's red color and the lettered beads that spelled out angry.

'Huh. I forgot about this casette,' Earl said. 'What was it titled?'

'Rage.'

He nodded. 'Right. Makes sense.' Looking down at Ida, he frowned. 'What's the matter, sweetheart?'

Ida shrugged. 'This entire thing with Jeremy and Hyde is making me angry. And what makes me even more angry is that I'm pissed at Hyde. We've never went more than two days without talking.'

'Why don't you just talk it out?' Earl suggested. 'You kids are making too big of a deal out of it when it really doesn't have to be.'

'But it is a big deal,' Ida whined, burying her face into her hands. 'He always interferes with other people's relationships. You know that he had a crush on Donna and kissed her when she and Eric were hitting it off? Who does that?! And now, now that she's not interested, he likes me all of a sudden! And he ruined my relationship with Jeremy just because I felt something for him for one brief second... I'm making it worse, aren't I? Well, you know what, Steven can go and-'

'Okay, calm down,' Earl interrupted her before she finished her sentence. 'This is why the music is on, for you to groove to it and be angry through it. Second of all,' he continued, 'I will never understand you kids. And third of all, you need to go and talk to him and sort all of this out if you can't stand it anymore.'

Ida sighed. 'Yea, you're right. Could I go now?'

Looking down at his watch and adjusting it on his wrist, Earl said, 'Well, your shift is almost over, so sure.' The he looked away at something that caught his attention. 'And if you'll excuse me, I'm gonna go and stop that woman from letting her child destroy that new David Bowie cutout. Ma'am. Ma'am!' He shouted and then went to pry Ziggy Stardust out of the toddler's hands. He was swinging the thing around, almost knocking other stuff down around it while his mom laughed and was taking photos!

Chuckling, Ida reached to take her stuff from under the counter when Fez walked into the store. 'Hey, Fez. What're you doing here?' It was a surprise for Fez to venture into the Pandemonium because the last time he did, Mrs. Erdman made him shove his own face into holy water. She still didn't approve of rock.

'I wanted to see how you were doing...' he answered and then averted his gaze. 'Also, Hyde ditched me.'

'Of course, he did,' she replied, rolling her eyes. 'Well, you can hang out with me. I don't wanna go home yet anyway.'