The charred remains of their old elementary school looked like something out of a horror movie. Shadows from the broken windows stretched out across the cracked pavement, while the chain-link fence that had once protected children now stood twisted and rusted.
"Okay, I'll admit it," Donna said, peering through the gate. "This place looks haunted as hell."
"You think maybe it's still radioactive from when Kelso put that firecracker in the janitor's closet?" Hyde asked, smirking.
"Hey! That was a science experiment," Kelso defended. "And besides, Hyde was the one who dared me!"
Ella hung back behind them, arms crossed tightly. "Remind me why we're breaking into the school again? Y'know...the illegal part?"
"Because," Eric said, holding up a flashlight with a theatrical grin. "There are rumors that some of our permanent records survived. And if mine says 'Eric peed his pants in art class,' I'm not letting it go down in Forman history."
"Technically, you just confirmed it did," Jackie said dryly, filing her nails.
They broke through the fence—Fez crawling under with ease, while Kelso dramatically tried to climb over and fell flat on his face. Classic.
The school smelled like smoke and old paper. Glass crunched under their feet as they navigated through what used to be classrooms and hallways. Their old lockers, warped and melted, looked like silent sentinels watching them pass.
"This is giving me the creeps," Jackie whispered, clinging to Donna. "Let's just grab the files and go."
"Split up?" Eric suggested. "We'll cover more ground."
Hyde gave a small shrug. "Alright. Girls take the left wing, boys go right."
"I don't like this," Ella said quietly, tugging on Hyde's sleeve. "Something about this place feels...wrong."
Hyde gave her a look—soft, protective, but unreadable. "It's just smoke damage and bad memories, El. We'll be fine."
But as they separated, she couldn't help but watch him walk off with Eric, Fez, and Kelso, already laughing like they weren't surrounded by literal ash.
The girls stayed close together, their flashlights bouncing shadows off the broken walls. They ended up in what remained of the teacher's lounge, where Jackie let out a loud gasp.
"Oh my god. A mirror survived!" she rushed forward and adjusted her hair.
"Jackie, priorities," Donna muttered, pulling open a scorched file cabinet. "These might be it—help me out."
Ella stood still, staring at a cracked chalkboard. Miss Thompson's Class. Her heart thudded.
That had been her first-grade room.
She touched the chalk-dusted corner gently, remembering a time before trauma and heartbreak. Before Hyde. Before prom. Before courtrooms and therapy.
Before everything.
"Found 'em!" Donna yelled, pulling out a folder marked Student Discipline Records. "Holy crap—this is gold."
Jackie yanked one open. "Oh my god, Michael failed first grade?!"
"Let me see!" Ella grabbed a file and her eyes widened. "Eric! You were the reason Hyde got suspended in second grade?" That had been a pivotal moment in Hyde becoming the 'bad boy.'
Back on the other side of the building, the boys were having their own revelations.
"Oh man," Eric muttered, holding a record under the beam of his flashlight. "Donna...streaked? At recess?!"
YOU ARE READING
Tiny Dancer
RomanceElla is the youngest in the Forman house, she strives to be the best in everything she does and has a sweet spot for a certain rebel stoner, but he afraid to get close because she is his best friends sister.
