chapter six » what the hell is disco?
"HELLO, Mrs.Lewis, is Christina here?" Christina heard an innocent voice asked. She stood by the bottom of the step, watching her mother stand at the door, speaking with the visitor.
"Yes, she's here. Tina-" She called out, but stopped when she looked back at her daughter, "Someone's here to see you."
Christina furrowed her brows and walked up to her mom only to see Jackie at her doorstep, "Hey, Chrissy!"
Christina gave an awkward smile at the nickname, "Hey, what are you doing here?"
"I just came by to ask you if you could come to our sleepover tonight?" She asked but then look at Kim, "If only you approve, Mrs.Lewis?"
Kim raised a brow, "'Sleepover'? What kind of sleepover and with who?"
"Well, it's just us staying in and watching films all night and only our friend, Donna, and I will be hosting it right across the street. Just us girls," Jackie simply explained, the lie she told easily slipping past her lips, "And we thought since Chrissy is new, we want to spend more time with her. Her mom will be watching us, of course."
Christina turned to her mom, watching her think of an answer to give, "Can I?"
Kim met her eyes and hesitantly nodded, "Yes, but don't leave the house and be back here in the morning, alright? And no more crazy things."
Jackie clapped, watching Kim walk off towards the kitchen, "Yay, I get to dress you up! Come on!"
She turned on her heels and walked towards the sidewalk as Christina yelled out to her mom, slipping on her shoes, "I'll be back later, mama!"
She hurriedly closed the door and caught up to Jackie as they walked towards Donna's, "Are we really having a sleepover?"
"Nope, where are going dancing, everyone is going and Eric will be driving us," Jackie responded, "Your mother doesn't seem like the type to just let you be around anyone." And she wasn't- at least, not anymore. Thankfully, Christina didn't get caught sneaking out the other night because she knew her mother would had made her never see the outside world again. She was also glad they were going out because she didn't think she could handle being inside any longer.
They walked inside of Donna's place without knocking, which was odd to Christina causing her to call out for Donna, "Donna?"
"Wow," Donna said, popping her head out of the kitchen, "I honestly didn't believe your mom would voluntarily let you leave your house."
"It's only because I told her mom we were having a sleepover," Jackie shrugged, "Last thing we need is her calling the cops, thinking her daughter is missing." Donna hummed before she lead the girls to her room, which had a majority of Jackie's clothes strewn around the bed, "Because I'm convinced we are the same size, I chose to lend you a few options to wear tonight."
"And if we aren't?" Christina amusingly asked Jackie, watching her appraisal turn into confusion.
"Well," She paused, soon placing her hands on her hips sassily, "Well, I'm not going to let you stretch out my clothes, Donna's already done that to three of my tops."
"I told you on multiple occasions that I'm not your doll to dress up," Donna shrugged, but looked at Christina, "If her outfits don't work out, I have some things you could wear."
Christina nodded and tried on Jackie's clothes first, finding her wardrobe to be more tight fitting than Donna'a after about an hour. She chose one of Donna's outfits at the end, causing Jackie to hide her displeasure.
Jackie hid a lot of her feelings about Christina, believing the group would all disagree, though she only felt the opposite of everyone because of Michael. She could see how he would act towards Christina and him skipping school with her was the icing on the cake for her jealousy.
After some time, Eric honked his car for the girls to leave and get in before Christina's mom noticed. As Christina sat in the back of Eric's Vista Cruiser, she stared ahead at her new home, finding it to look in its truest form of America's standards.
"So," Christina began as everyone piled in the car and Eric drove off, "What kind of dancing is this?"
"Disco, baby!" Kelso excitedly answered, causing Steven to roll his eyes and lean against the window. He sat next to Christina as Jackie sat beside her, with Donna up front with Kelso in between her and Eric.
"Disco?" She asked quietly, looking over at Steven.
He noticed her gaze, causing him to perk up a bit, "It's just a lame trend where people wear flared jeans and twelve inch boots and dance under this large ball hanging from the ceiling."
A light laugh left Christina, "You make it sound like you won't have fun." And in all honesty, Hyde didn't want to come, but when Donna mentioned inviting Christina, he thought he'd give it a try- even wearing his best shades for the occasion.
"Who knows," He shrugged, nudging her gently, "Depends on who I'm dancing with tonight." A smile rushed to her face, causing her to shift her gaze onto her lap until they reached Kenosha. She decided on wearing a long bright blue skirt that went past her ankles and white off shoulder blouse, finding more comfort in it than she would have in Jackie's choices.
Donna was the first to walk into the club, amazed by all the people there and how alive the room felt, "This is awesome."
The group followed in after, also believing the same thing she thought, smiles immediately making way to their faces. Before even finding a table, the majority of the group went to the dance floor, leaving only Hyde, Christina and Fez to find a table.
Soon, Fez looked at the two and sighed, "Okay, now which one of you will go with me to the bathroom?"
"Neither of us, Fez," Hyde grimaced, "Go by yourself."
"What if I get lost?"
"We'll put up a missing flyer for you along with a chocolate bar," Hyde responded, and when Fez picked up on sarcasm, he rolled his eyes and mumbled curse words as walked off. "Hey, Christina," Hyde called her and she looked over from her cup to him, smiling. He awkwardly rocked back and forth on his seat, not sure how to approach her, "Um, do you-" He paused, scratching the back of his head, "Do you want to dance?"
"Yeah, sure," She hummed, "I'm not any good, but-"
"Me neither," He smiled and held out his hand, "If you want, we can go out there and be complete asses or we can skip this and sit in Foreman's Cruiser until it's over."
Christina then looked out onto the dance floor, thinking how she couldn't dance to the music everyone was listening to and how uncomfortable she'd be to dance freely around strangers. She grimaced lightly and nodded at Steven, "Let's get out of here."
She took his hand and led him out of the club, thinking they went unnoticed by their friends. However, Jackie happened to see a mere glimpse of the two when Steven glanced back into the club before running off with Christina. At the sight of them, she smirked and headed over to her friends, "Can you believe it?"
"What?" Donna asked her, wishing she was out on the dance floor again.
"Steven and Christina just left together," Jackie announced, causing Michael to jump out of his chair, astonished.
"What?" He repeated, though in a higher pitch than Donna, causing them all to look at him strangely, even Jackie. She narrowed her eyes at him before smacking his shoulder, "Damn it, Jackie! You know I just fell on this arm!"
"I knew it!" Jackie scoffed, "You have feelings for the foreign girl!"
"I do not!" He gasped, soon looking at his friends for help, "I'm just in a bet over her! Tell her, Donna."
"A bet?" Jackie became infuriated, not because her boyfriend was a part of a dare to cheat on her or that everyone but her knew. It was because she thought Christina was purposely pursuing both guys, though Jackie was far from how oblivious Christina was.
"I told them it was a stupid bet," Donna intervened, "He's not going to win anyways, she seems to like Hyde."
"Well, Hyde doesn't like her and I'm going to prove that it's only for the bet," Michael retorted, now acknowledging his girlfriend once again when she hit him again. He suddenly crouched down in pain, "Jackie, I just told you about this arm!"
Michael meant what he said, though, and would prove that Hyde is using her- even if it meant getting himself in trouble too. Hyde wouldn't admit to his friends that he thought of Christina more than a bet because he felt the need to keep his image in front of his friends that he wasn't a guy that could love anyone- he wanted to show he was always going to be a lone wolf.
And despite his intentions, he began to stare longingly at Christina as she tried to work Foreman's radio, "So what's your favorite artist?"
"Zeppelin," Hyde responded, but she glanced back him confused, "They're this legendary rock band from London."
"Would you want to play that?" She asked, "I don't think your country would have the music I listen to from home."
"We don't have to play music," He assured her, "We.. we can just talk if you don't mind." At that moment, he couldn't believe he just turned down Led Zeppelin in order to talk to Christina more. He watched her smile at his response, beginning to like her more than he thought.
"Okay, so tell me about your life," She wondered, "Any siblings?"
"None that I know of," He let out a dry laugh, having it die out since she didn't understand his humor, "But, uh, no. It's just my mom and I. Our friends are kind of like my siblings."
"Wow, well they must be really lucky to have you around," She mentioned and he nodded awkwardly, noticing as she leaned forward and stretched her hands to his face. He stood frozen, unaware of her plans until he felt the frame of his sunglasses slide off the bridge of his nose and rest in her hands, "I hope you don't mind."
"N-no, go ahead," He offered, never giving his shades to anyone- let alone, touch his face. She grinned as she put on his glasses and leaned her head against the passenger seat, meeting his eyes, "Not too bad. I think I look better in them though."
Christina laughed, having him enjoy every second of it, "You're really fun to be around, Steven." She glanced down at her hands, "I mean, everyone is, but they-"
"Are idiots?" He wondered and she laughed again, shaking her head, "Really? I thought that's where the conversation was going."
"No, they're fine, I just don't have much in common with them," She shrugged, "And I know there isn't much that can compare us, but hey, I'm open to listening to this Zeppelin guy."
"Band," He corrected softly, "It's- uh, it's a band."
"Oh," She mumbled quietly, but perked up at an idea, "You want to walk home?"
"'Walk'?" He wondered, unsure if he heard her correctly, "Christina, we're all the way in Kenosha." She furrowed her brows and he smiled before getting out the car and crouching down to look at her, "I'm going to regret this, but come on."
She grinned and hurriedly got out the car, "Live your life to the fullest instead of waiting for your last day on earth."
"Who are you, Confucius?" He retorted, and she laughed.
"That may be the only joke you told that I truly understood," She smiled and instinctively, so did he as he felt okay warming up to her. He liked that she was new in town- a fresh start that he could have for himself seeing that she doesn't know him too well. He noticed how she liked this side of him and now feared what she would think of his rebellious past, especially when his friends willingly tell her about it.