Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
AWKWARD TENSION
THE FIRST DAY BACK at school, Josie didn't go unnoticed like she had hoped to. Everyone remembered her, and she could feel the staring eyes and hear the constant chatter about her, driving her insane.
The people who used to be her friends had avoided her, giving her nasty glares while very loudly dissing her, making sure she heard them and their dislike for her. She hadn't done anything wrong to them, she even wrote them from France, but people change.
Making her way down the hall to head home, Josie was stopped by a very old friend, Donna Pinciotti. "Josephine? Holy shit, I didn't actually think you were back" she smiled as she approached the girl. "Donna, hey" Josephine smiled back at her.
"How've you been? How was France?"
Donna was the last person Josie had expected to talk to her, seeing as they haven't spoke since the end of eighth grade, but as she reminded herself before, people change. "It was great! I've been really good, it's really weird being back home though. How about you?"
Donna walked alongside her, very happy to see the girl. She felt bad for the way their friendship had ended many moons ago, it was constantly eating away at her. "Oh, you know, living life to the fullest in good ol' Point Place" Donna joked, making Josie scoff with amusement.
"Are you doing anything after school?" Donna questioned, a small smile forming when Josephine shook her head no. "Do you want to come hangout with me and the guys?"
Josephine was just as surprised as Donna once the question left her mouth, both of them even more surprised when Josephine said yes. "They're gonna be stoked to see you" Donna chuckled as they walked along the sidewalk towards both of their houses.
The girls grew up two streets over from each other, and they used to be best friends, up until Josephine began to hang around with Pam Macy, who hated Donna with a passion. Once her and Josephine became friends, Donna became full of rage towards Josephine, and ended their friendship while yelling in her face. It wasn't a moment Donna was proud of, and when she found out Josie had left to France not long after, she felt even more terrible.
"You guys all still hangout?" Josie asked, impressed they all stayed friends. "Yep, they're the only people I can handle in this god forsaken place" Donna replied with a small smirk. "That's nice, actually. I kind of feel like an idiot for thinking my other friends would be happy to see me. I'm not sure why they weren't, we didn't end on bad terms or anything" Josie shrugged, making Donnas lips form into a thin line.
"I'm really sorry, about everything before" she admitted, lightly chewing the inside of her cheek while awaiting Josies response.
"Don't worry about it" Josie shrugged, easing the tension Donna was feeling, "we were kids, not to mention we had both started puberty and were extremely hormonal and angry" she chuckled.
Both of them felt good about their long overdue makeup, and immediately fell back into the comfortability of their friendship, neither one of them realizing how much they truly missed each other until now.
"Eric Forman's house?" She asked as they walked up the driveway. "Yep, it's the new hangout spot" Donna told her as they walked into the kitchen through the sliding door. Josie looked around, noticing how everything was the same, a smile forming on her face once Kitty walked in the room, dressed for work.
"Oh my god, Josephine Callaghan?" Kitty exclaimed before pulling the girl in for a hug. "Oh, it's so nice to see you" she gushed at the girl in front of her. "You too, Mrs. Forman" Josie smiled. "You are just as pretty as I remember" Kitty smiled.
"The boys are downstairs, that awful one is with them" Kitty said as she looked at Donna, who held back a laugh. "Awful one?"
"You'll see" Donna snickered as she grabbed Josies hand, pulling her downstairs. She'd never been in the basement before, but that was because they always spent their time outside playing games.
"Oh my god, Donna brought a girl!" She heard a boy with an accent say with excitement, making her laugh to herself. Once they got to the bottom of the stairs, Josie looked to see all of them staring at her. "Josie?" Eric was the first to speak.
"Hey" Josie smiled and waved awkwardly at them. "You're pretty" the boy with the accent spoke as he gazed lovingly at her. Hyde whacked him on the arm with his magazine before turning back to look at the girl with a smile. "Pleasure to see ya, Jo. How've you been?"
Josie and Donna moved to sit down, Donna sitting on the couch next to Eric, Josie sitting in a chair near the door. "I've been good, you?"
"Meh, though I'm definitely doing better now" he wiggled his eyebrows at her, making her laugh. "When did you get back? I thought you were staying in France until graduation" Eric questioned, sounding excited to see the girl. "You were in France?" The nameless boy asked.
"Yeah, I got back the other day. It was a surprise to me too" she told them, her eyes lingering on Hyde a little longer. He grew up nicely, his hair still curly as ever, and he still wore his signature sunglasses.
She told them all about her time away, trying hard to ignore the loving gaze the other boy was still giving her. It was sort of creepy, but everyone else seemed to pretend he wasn't there, so she tried to do the same. She was in the middle of telling them why she had come home early, when the door next to her opened and a girl walked in, Kelso trailing behind her.
"Who the hell are you?" The girl asked, her voice shrill and high pitched, as she sent a menacing glare towards her. "Josie!" Kelso yelled as he picked her up from her seat and spun her around happily, the girl never taking her eyes off of her.
"Hey!" Josie smiled up at Kelso as he put her down. "You're supposed to be in France" he pointed at her with a dumb smile on his face. "Surprise!?"
"Who is that?" The girl with the shrill voice asked Steven, "Kelso's first love" he replied with a smirk, knowingly irking the girl. "I'm Josie, it's nice to meet you" she smiled at her. "Hm. I don't like you" the girl sneered. "You don't have to, Kelso likes her enough to cover for you" Hyde chuckled, the girl now shooting daggers into his head with her eyes.
Josie stood there with an amused frown on her face, and her eyebrows slightly raised. Kitty was right, she was awful.
The seven of them hung out in the basement until well past dark, spending their time catching up on the last two years. Josie learned the boy was named Fez, and the awful one was Jackie— a horrible name for a horrible girl, Josie thought.
It was a good night, Josie and the others felt very satisfied to hang out again. Eric had offered to drive Josie to school in the morning, which she gladly agreed to. It wasn't a super far walk, but it gave her the chance to rekindle her old friendships, and she wasn't about to say no. She spent her childhood with them, and they were still as entertaining as ever.
