Second Hand News [Steven&Jackie]

Chapter Six

34 days…

That's how long it had been since Jackie woke up in 77' and I'm not going to lie it has not been the smoothest of transitions.

I mean come on it's not like you get hauled back in time every day of the week…

She'd forgotten how hard it was to get a job without references, for one thing.

I mean for gods sake she had years' worth of experience in all kinds of jobs, from waitressing to secretary skills, hell she was even a personal shopper for a while but it's not exactly like she could tell her potential employers 'oh, yeah I worked there for six months… well I will have in 1981 anyway'.

She got pretty lucky with this little café in the mall, it was… she wanted to say nice but couldn't seem to force it past her lips.

In fact, it was cheap and tacky, and the bright yellow walls paired with the cracked blue leather seats gave her a headache but Jane, the owner, wasn't too fussy about needing references.

Jane was the kind of woman you imagine sitting at the end of a bar at the beginning of some old movie, her bottle blonde hair was always perfectly bouncy, she always seemed to have a cigarette in her hand and that look in her eye that told you she just knew stuff… most she probably wished she didn't.

Jane only had two rules in working for her; don't dip into the register and don't screw her around.

And Jackie was more than happy to live with those rules.

She had a job, that was the important part.

No matter how ugly the uniform was… so she kept telling herself.

Her next milestone had been school.

Now that was hell!

Her first day back and she felt like she was tripping over her own shadow.

She hadn't worn anything too out of character to her younger self, she didn't want to draw to much attention.

She failed miserably because when lunch came around she completely bypassed the cheerleaders and headed towards her actual friends.

Everyone was kind of shocked at that.

I mean yeah, they hung out after school and sometimes between classes and stuff, but she never ate with them, not even when she'd been dating Kelso.

That was social suicide 101.

I mean she was a cheerleader for god's sake.

Julie, the head cheer-bitch, had been so pissed she'd just stormed over, several minions at her back "Um Jackie, are you blind or just brain damaged, our table is over there!"

Jackie just smiled, it was bitter and cold, and popped a fry between her perfect pink glossed lips "I'm good here, thanks anyway."

"Jackie! For the love of Coco Chanel, you're a cheerleader, you can't sit with these… lepers! And you also can't just decide not to turn up for practice either, we waited for like a full hour for you until Kelly had to step in to do the Double Nine, which she bombed!"