SONG: I Just Want to Have Something to Do by Ramones
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The thing that most sucked about being grounded was the fact that Ida couldn't go out with Jeremy. She told him when she came to work on Saturday, and now, a week after, she was watching him leave his shift an hour early with another girl.
Ida stomped her foot on the ground once Jeremy walked out of the store. 'And he wanted to go out with me,' she said. 'I need a different song.' She walked over to the radio that played the music in the store, and started changing stations until she found a sad song. 'Meatloaf. Great.' Then she slumped down on one of the chairs behind the counter and sighed dramatically.
Donna rolled her eyes and chuckled. 'Come on, Ida. It's not that big of a deal. He said they were just going to study history.'
'Yea, at her house!' Ida exclaimed and slapped her hands on her thighs. 'In her room. On her bed... one thing leads to another and the rest is history. Honestly, he could've just asked me. I know history.'
'You do. You have a vast knowledge of historical events,' Hyde said. He was sitting at the edge of the counter looking through a box of Earl's cassette tapes that he left there to take to his car later. 'But there's something you don't have.'
Ida looked at him. 'Oh, yea? And what's that?'
He smiled. 'Height, tan and ass length blond hair.'
She pointed her middle finger at him and went back to pouting. This was why Ida kept away from boys. It always ended in the same way. But then again, she was the idiot that got herself grounded. And it wasn't like Jeremy and she were a thing. She just thought that he kind of shared the same feelings.
'Where's everyone else?' Hyde asked. 'We agreed to spend the morning with Ida.'
Ida lifted up her head. 'You agreed to spend the day with me?' She stood up from her chair and jumped at Hyde, giving him a big hug. 'Aw, thank you!'
He patted her on the shoulder. 'It's fine, Ida. That's enough.' When she didn't want to let go, he added, 'It's like having a little monkey hanging off of you.'
'Shut up,' she told him, but grinned and then sat down on the counter besides him.
'Well,' Donna started. 'Eric's grandma is visiting today, so he and Red had to go pick her up. I don't know about Jackie and Kelso, but Fez should be coming soon. He got held up at the Sweet Candy Shop.'
'What for?'
'Candy,' Donna said and nodded to herself. 'We gave up dragging him away from the gumball machine and just left him there.'
Ida grimaced. 'I wonder how he still has all of his teeth. He eats candy for breakfast, lunch and dinner.'
'Don't forget morning and afternoon snack,' Donna added. 'How are you holding up after a week of being grounded?'
Hyde looked up at her. 'Why did you have to ask her that?'
'Why shouldn't I?'
'You're about to see.'
Ida glared at him. 'I'm holding up fine. You know, I finally have the time for myself. I painted my nails and did a face mask the other night. And I watch TV and I read. And I also cleaned out my room...' she paused for a moment, '...and I found a photo album in my closet with all our pictures and I remembered how much fun we had while I could leave the house and then I realized I'm miserable and that I hate being grounded!' She threw her face into her hands. 'I hate my life.'
'And this is only the first week,' Hyde told Donna. 'By the third week, she'll resort to fire stoves and rock made tools.'
'Come on, Ida,' Donna said. 'It's just two more weeks. You'll be out of the house just in time for Christmas and then we can go Christmas shopping. And I'll even go with you to that store in the mall that gives away free snowman shaped cookies you like so much.'
Ida peeked though her hands at Donna. 'The one with the white chocolate frosting?'
'And sprinkles.'
'Okay, I feel better now!'
Hyde set aside the box and wrapped an arm around Ida's shoulders, shaking her playfully. 'And we decided to stop by while you're here whenever we can so that you don't feel lonely.'
She smiled. 'Thanks. It means a lot.'
He bumped his head against her, glancing at Donna to see her reaction. They were still putting on the jealousy show. 'No problem.' Then he looked around, dropping his arm. 'Now where is Earl? We didn't come here for nothing.'
***
Ida was sitting in the living room on Sunday in the evening with her dad and their house cat, Charles I. He was a big, fat, gray cat, so big that he could barely fit into Ida's lap. But at the same time, he was very majestic and you knew that Charles was the king of the house and that he owned the Jekyll's, not the other way around.
'Ida, I know you're grounded,' her dad said, 'but you have to start using the telephone less. We got the bill this morning and it was too high.'
'Yea, I will,' Ida replied. 'I'm sorry, but I called Jackie last night to ask her something and she rambled on for two hours about... I don't even know what she talked about. I got lost after she started analyzing how Mamma Mia by ABBA describes perfectly her love life with Kelso.'
Her dad frowned. 'Jackie is the small, annoying one, right?'
Ida nodded. 'Yea.' Her dad had the issue with memorizing the names of her friends. For seven years, he didn't know Hyde's first name was Steven and believed it to be Hyde, while he just called Kelso tall, dumb one. He still didn't remember Fez's name so he'd call him either Dez or Ez.
'How's work?' Since the fight, Ida and her dad were really trying to rebuild their relationship and that meant sitting together in the evenings in the living room - when Ida didn't have anything to study - while watching TV and talking about their day.
'It's great. I'm getting my first pay check on Friday,' Ida answered. 'I'm really excited and was actually thinking if we could go to the bank so that I could open my savings account or something.'
Her dad nodded. 'It's nice to see you thinking about your future. We can go. I don't think you can yet open your own savings account but we can open one along with my own and then once you turn eighteen, we will transfer the money on your account.'
'That'd be great,' she replied. 'Once I save up enough, I'll get myself a car.'
'We agreed that your mom and I will buy you a car,' he said. 'Not yet, but we will get it for you because we still think you deserve it.'
Ida turned to face him, moving her attention away from the Brady Bunch. 'Listen, dad. I really don't want mom and you to buy me a car. I appreciate the gest, but I want my first car to be something I buy with my own money because it's much more meaningful that way, you know? It will be something that I buy myself with the money I worked hard for a earned on my own.'
Her dad looked at her. There was a hint of pride in his eyes that she could see and he smiled a bit. 'We'll talk about it. But I am glad you told me that.'
'There's something else I'd like to tell you,' she continued. 'I want you to be more involved in my life and things that interest me and all that. I feel like I talk to mom about everything but that I don't talk to you about it nearly as much because I feel like I'll bore you if I talk about my day or something.'
'No,' he answered. 'No, Ida, honey, I don't get bored. You just never really want to talk with me about the things you talk with your mother and I just can't help but think that you don't want to talk to me about it. I really appreciate when you come to me for advice or when you just want to rant to me about your day.'
Ida smiled and threw herself closer to him, cuddling into his side as he wrapped his arm around her like he used to do when she was little. 'Am I still your princess?'
'You'll never stop being one,' her dad answered. 'Sometimes you're even dramatic as one. You know, I still see you as my little girl and it's difficult to see you grow up, especially after everything that happened with your brother and all. And I can't help but worry about you.'
Letting all that sink in, Ida said, 'Wow, dad. I don't think they toughened you up well in the army.'
He laughed. 'Well, your mother did say we need better communication, so here it is.'
'I'd like us to spend more time together,' she told him. 'We can go fishing or something and just talk I guess.'
'I'd like that too,' he replied with a nod. 'We can go next weekend if it doesn't snow.' Then he looked at the TV. 'God, who even has a family as perfect as this?' He asked a switched the channel.
Mrs. Jekyll walked into the living room, coming down the two steps and then taking a seat on the couch on the other side of Ida. She just finished with her Sunday aerobics routine she does every weekend in the backyard, and then takes a fancy bath afterwards. 'I see you two getting along nicely.'
Both of them smiled. 'Well, when you forced us, we had no other choice,' Mr. Jekyll said sarcastically.
Ida nodded. 'Yea. We're both suffering.'
Her mom looked at them, and smiled, shaking her head.
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This was a very short chapter cause it's not based on any of the episodes. It's more like a filler thing, BECAUSE the next chapter is gonna be pretty long and it's honestly my favorite one I've written so far and I'm so excited to share it with you tomorrow!
Hope you enjoyed this anyway!
~I