𝐃𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐐𝐮𝐞𝐞𝐧 ⇀ 𝗍𝟩𝗌

【seven】

chapter seven » turkey day

"ALL that I'm suggesting is that we should have duck at thanksgiving along with turkey, Fred," Kim quietly argued as they sat in the kitchen. Christina could hear them from the living room while she did her homework, already annoyed from their conversation.

"Kimono, my family is coming for thanksgiving and none of them like duck. They want to see you and Christina for the first time, and they want to enjoy a turkey while watching the game, that's it," Fred pointed out, not finding reason in Kim's words, even as he tried using his nickname for her.

"The duck is not for them, Fred, it's for Christina," She angrily told him, "She's been months away from home, I just wanted to give her something to cheer her up about this place and a duck would have done that for her. You can't tell me that she loves it here, especially with those people in her school."

Silence then followed, having Christina to stop writing on her essay. Christina would hear racist jokes every day in school, degrading her self esteem that she had proudly shown before moving to Wisconsin. She didn't think of how small the people in the town could make her feel- like the true outsider she was. No one else in school was there to relate to her, but Fez and he rarely cared about what people said about him. Though, one day a girl named Sue came up to her in science and began to mock her language and how Christina spoke. Christina tried her best to ignore Sue and when this was acknowledged, Sue slapped her hard across the face.

Kim had to come to the school because of this and it just made things worse when she was told that this wasn't the first time Christina had been bullied. Kim urged for Christina to press charges or for the school to expel the girl, but Christina just wanted the problem to go away. Though, the issue still longed whenever she would look in the mirror and see a violet colored bruise on her cheek.

"Fine, Kim, we'll have one for Christina," Fred submitted, "But I still think you should reconsider transferring her, she still has friends at that school."

"Oh, those potheads freaks that live across the street?" She remarked, and Christina rolled her eyes, "Where were they when she was getting bullied all day in classes? What kind of friends are they?"

"That Steven kid just got suspended for fighting the boys that had been bullying her," Fred inputted, but Kim scoffed as Christina furrowed her brows, "Plus, Christina never talks about her problems...they probably didn't even know."

"Christina doesn't talk to you about her problems, Fred." Kim seethed, "My child is not some antisocial kid, whenever she has an issue she comes to me."

"Kim, you didn't even know she was getting bullied until that fight!" He exclaimed, but moments passed before he spoke again, "It's clear she trusts her friends and that they're the only ones she's got at school, just let her stay there."

"No, Fred, I'm done talking about it," Kim deadpanned before leaving the kitchen and meeting her daughter's gaze, "Go finish your homework in your room tonight, okay?"

Christina quietly nodded and watched her mom as she put on her coat and grabbed her keys, "Where are you going?"

"Just to the store, going to get us a duck," Kim simply responded, but Christina knew she was just going to go buy more wine for herself, "I'll be back."

"Can I go out later after I finish my homework?" Christina asked, causing Kim to stop in front of the door, "I'll just be across the street at Donna's place."

Kim eyed her daughter for a moment, but nodded and smiled softly, "Don't stay too long, okay?"

Christina hummed, watching her mom leave the house and Fred enter the living room soon after, "Goodnight, Christina." He waved her off, as he walked up the stairs to his room, clearly exhausted from the argument.

"I'll talk to her, Fred," Christina assured, "Goodnight." He mumbled a thanks under his breath before going to bed and leaving Christina to herself. The house was now awfully quiet and Christina couldn't help but enjoy it as she put her books away and went to her room. She changed out of her clothes and put on a heavy sweater and jeans before heading out the door.

She tightly hugged herself as she headed towards Forman's basement where she assumed everyone was, but when she got there, she only saw Hyde with headphones on. He rested his head back on the couch, with his eyes focused on the ceiling until her noticed the door open. He met Christina's gaze and smiled as he took off his headphones, "Hey, stranger."

"Hey," She chuckled and walked up to the couch to sit next to him. When she got close, she could see the bruise he had under his eye, "You didn't have to fight those boys for me, you know?"

"Yeah, but I wanted to, you don't deserve their shit," He smiled, noticing her raise her hand to hold his chin. She maneuvered around his face, examining the bruise, "I'm fine, I promise."

"I know, I just-" She sighed, "My mom wants me to change schools."

"What? She can't do that," He frowned, matching her saddened expression.

"I think she can," A dry laugh escaped Christina, letting out another sigh soon after, "I'm just going to get bullied there, too."

Hyde was about to speak up, but he heard footsteps coming downstairs, causing him to glance back as Eric, Donna and Kelso came down. "Hey, Christina. I didn't know you came in."

Hyde looked back at Christina and hummed, "Yeah, she just came." He told Eric as they all sat around the TV.

Soon after, Fez came in from outside and sat on the floor, "My host parents noticed one of my records was not in fact Pastor Bill and in fact, Black Sabbath."

"They didn't destroy it, did they?" Hyde perked up, along with Kelso, both staring at Fez with hope.

"No, they're taking it to their rock bonfire," He simply said, causing to back to grow confused, "Apparently, it's where their church sets a bunch of rock records on fire and back to the devil."

"Okay, I think I might faint." Donna gasped, "Please let's just not talk about it anymore."

"Yeah, can we talk about how it's finally snowing?" Kelso beamed as he stared out the basement window.

Christina then looked at the door and stood up, snow in November? She then met Steven's gaze, "Can we go see it?"

Surprised at the question, he hesitantly nodded before quickly grabbing his coat. He wanted to believe that he was the only person Christina asked, but he heard everyone else shuffling to go outside too. More saddened by the fact, he trudged outside watching everyone play in the snowfall, despite the fact that the snow wasn't even above two inches.

His eyes then focused on Christina as she did nothing but stare up at the sky and shiver, causing him to smile as he went up to her. He draped his coat over her shoulders and she wasted no time to pull it closer to her, "I've never seen people so excited for snow that's not sticking to the ground."

She laughed lightly, glancing over at him to see him now looking up at the sky like she was. At that, she smiled and looked back at the snow falling ever so gently, forgetting the problems that she had to deal with at home. She didn't want to burden her friends with the fact that her mother's happiness was fading the longer she stayed in town. She didn't even want to burden herself that one day she's going to leave here too and leave everyone behind again.