Stick to the plan and everything will work itself out was basically the gang's motto for the past couple of months.

The plan was pretty simple, everyone had talked about it once English teachers had them start writing college essays. They would apply to schools across the state, but if they all got into University of Wisconsin, that's where they would go. For the couple, it was a bit of a compromise—the overachiever would only look in state and the underachiever would at least apply.

The blonde chose to leave out that she had already applied to out of state universities the previous summer to avoid worrying her friends over something that probably wouldn't even happen.

❁

It was early-August, and school had just started, and everything was settling back to normal after everyone returned from California. The family was sitting at the table as Kitty set down the plates. Hyde and Lucy shoving eachother back and forth with their shoulders jokingly.

"So, is everyone ready for our big tour of the University of Wisconsin tomorrow?" Kitty asked cheerily.

"Ah yes, state colleges, creepy older classmen boys and communal bathrooms!" Lucy smiled.

"Oh, yeah, Donna and I have it all mapped out! She is going to buy a tight sweater with a big red W and I am going to watch her wear it!" Eric smiled which quickly dissipated when he saw Red's face, "And then we're going to buckle down!"

"Oh and Steven, I put out clean clothes for you to wear," Kitty said helpfully.

Hyde nodded, "Thanks Mrs. Forman, I'm already all packed," he said looking at Lucy out of the corner of his eye who was smiling victoriously—considering she had forced him to pack. "Even though I'm not the college type, I get all my learning on the streets."

"Whoa, you live a double life where you're cool and on the street?" Lucy asked, feigning shock.

Kitty shook her head, "I just can't believe my babies are all grown up and visiting college. I feel so freaking old!"

Eric sighed, "And menopause makes another unwelcome appearance at the dinner table."

"Oh, it's not unwelcome, it's liberating. Now my emotions just spill out!" Kitty laughed.

"Yeah, Mom, you're sweating all over your pork chop," Eric nodded awkwardly.

❁

Lucy and the boys walked through the kitchen door with their bags before being stopped by Red, "Hold it you three, now before we hit the road, we need to have a talk about the horrible thing that's taken over your mother."

Eric nodded, "You mean her change of life?"

"I thought we were calling it the Lady's Part Problem," Hyde furrowed his eyebrows.

Lucy shrugged, "Or we could just call it menopause."

"Watch your language Lucetta," Red chided. "It goes by many names; now we're dealing with a tricky enemy here, I haven't been this frosty since Korea. And just like a commie, it can jump out and attack you at any moment!"

"Red honey," Kitty called from the dining room.

"Incoming!" Hyde whispered, grabbing Lucy's hand and pulling her through the kitchen. "Retreat!" Eric warned. "Every man—or woman—for themselves!" Lucy shrieked.

The kids stood in the driveway, piling their bags into the car. Jackie decided she'd come along too. Donna also had Marquette on her list but Lucy agreed to go with her a different weekend since Bob wouldn't let her go alone.

"So Lu, this weekend there's gonna be so many cute guys!" Jackie nodded informatively. To which Lucy just furrowed her eyebrows. "Older guys," Jackie continued, "richer guys."

"Okay? And?" Lucy shook her head confused as she looked to Hyde who just wore an amused smile at the brunette's antics.

Jackie sighed, stomping slightly, "Lucy! Me hanging out with girls with bad taste in guys has really taken me down a notch with the cheerleaders! Donna and Eric were one thing but you and Steven now being open at school has totally disrupted the system!"

Lucy shook her head, laughing, "Jackie! The whole point of the college pact we all made was so that Steven doesn't struggle finding anyone better than me!"

Throwing up her hands, Jackie yelled, "I give up!" before storming off.

"Wait, so you think I couldn't find someone else?" Hyde asked, amused.

Lucy nodded as if it were obvious, "Steven, come on, I'm obviously the one with the most game."

"Absolutely not! Before you I had so many chicks that digged me—you had Dick Thompson," Hyde laughed in disbelief.

Lucy blinked, taken aback, "You don't think I could find someone else?"

"No way in hell doll," Hyde crossed his arms, smirking.

Lucy bit the inside of her cheek before sticking out her hand, "Wanna bet? Whoever kisses someone new over this weekend wins."

Hyde raised an eyebrow and hesitantly said, "This seems like a trap."

"Well it's obviously not, I'm giving you permission to kiss one girl over this trip and this trip only. I give it confidently because I know you won't be able to—" Lucy taunted.

At that challenge, the boy stuck his hand out and shook the blonde's.

❁

The gang all walked through the doors to the union at UW.

"What the hell kinda college is this? Hippies walking around barefoot?" Red shouted.

"Man! This place is great, look there's even dirty cartoons up!" Kelso said gleefully.

"Kelso, those are CPR instructions," Hyde said, unamused.

Kelso smiled, looking back at the poster, "Man, I've done CPR a lot."

Looking around, Lucy saw that Jackie quickly found the group of sorority girls and got along with them right away. Across from them, she saw a fraternity that was checking out the sorority girls. One of which, a boy with with short blonde hair met her observing stare. He smiled her way which she sent back with a wave.

"Who are you waving to?" Donna asked.

Lucy turned to the redhead, "Blondie, 2 o'clock."

"Uh, why?" Donna asked, confused.

"Oh," Lucy laughed lightly, "Steven said I don't have game so we made a bet."

"See no way this could go wrong," Donna said jokingly, before Lucy shoved her shoulder.

"Hey! I'm Ted, the Resident Advisor," a brunette boy introduced himself as he walked up to the gang. "Visitor Weekend is great! We always have a big dorm party, tons of beer, tons of chicks."

"Hey, all I need is one six-pack and two chicks, and I'm good!" Hyde joked, causing the rest of the group to pause for a moment and look to him and the blonde beside him.

"One chick," Lucy corrected, simultaneously as Hyde shrugged, "It's a long story."

"Man, this place is great!" Eric exclaimed, "Oh my God look at that!" he stared at a college girl walking to the showers in her towel. "So uh, Donna, will you be doing that?"

"We just saw college butt!" Kelso cheered, "On a girl!"

"Hold it," Red said sternly, coming up behind Ted, "Girls live here too?"

Nodding, Ted replied, "Yes sir, we're co-ed." Causing the boys to cheer and high five one another and the three girls to share an annoyed look.

"That's it, you're staying with us at the motel," Red shook his head.

❁

After escaping the motel unscathed from her mother's wrath, Lucy and Hyde were both deadset on winning the bet. Meanwhile, Fez was sitting on the couch and people watching, Kelso was trying to teach girls CPR, Jackie was almost a pledge with the sorority, and Eric and Donna were mingling with other college couples.

"So you're from Australia?" Lucy asked, eyes wide in fascination as she talked to the frat boy.

The boy, George, stood across from her as he handed her another beer—that was another thing she could enjoy about college—the free drinks. "Yep," he nodded with a smile.

"So uh, if you don't mind me asking, why Wisconsin, of all places?" Lucy asked as she took a swig of her drink.

George laughed, his eyes crinkling slightly, "Yeah, uh, get that a lot. They gave me the best scholarship, all the other big city schools weren't as helpful and I just knew I wanted to be in America."

"Huh," Lucy nodded, processing, "So you're like—smart?"

"Uh, I'd like to say so," George smiled. "So what about you?"

The girl shrugged, "Oh, well, I'm from here. It's a nice school, so not a terrible place to be for four years. But uh, I kinda always wanted to get out of Wisconsin and I applied to some out of state schools." She paused for a moment, laughing at herself, "I haven't told anyone that, and I have no clue why I just told you."

"Well, I'm honored." George nodded politely, "And, I may not know a lot, but I think it'd be very easy for you to go to a bigger school if you wanted."

Lucy looked down and smiled shyly, "Thanks. So uh—what are you majoring in?"

Drinking his beer, George said, "Journalism and marketing."

"No way!" Lucy gasped, "I'm gonna major in journalism!"

"Really? Well, this school isn't half bad for it. They actually helped me find an internship and I actually have a column!" George explained, his excitement about the topic was obvious.

Lucy groaned, "Oh my gosh, you're lying! What have you written?"

"I actually have some copies of my stuff back in my room, wanna see?" He offered, nodding down the hall.

The girl hesitated for a moment, before looking over to where Hyde stood. Where a brunette girl was flirting with him and caressing his beard while he smiled. Feeling a slight pang, she nodded, taking George's hand as he guided her to his room.

Hyde watched the pair walk down the hall as the girl in front of him said, "That's a nice beard—ya know, I've never made out with a guy with a beard before."

"Well, I guess today is your lucky day," he said before leaning in and kissing the girl deeply, joining the masses of passionate teenagers around them.

❁

"Oh my gosh," Lucy said, completely immersed in the writing in front of her, "You wrote all this? All on your own?"

George nodded excitedly, "I mean besides the whole technicalities with editors and stuff, but yeah!"

"This is amazing!" Lucy shook her head in shock, "And I'm not blowing smoke, I mean, your use of language honestly makes the reader feel like they're seeing what you see and feel like they're there in Australia—"

She was cut off as George crashed his lips to hers. She was taken off guard as their lips molded together and her hands still held his article. Her mind clouded with too many thoughts and too many worries—and the only clear one in her mind being the image of Hyde making out with the brunette in his lap by now. Not being able to push the image out, she pulled George closer as he picked her up gently to sit on his desk.

But just as quickly, Lucy pulled away. "I'm sorry," both of them quickly apologized at once.

George scratched the back of his neck, "Sorry, it's just uh, you're real gorgeous when you talk about that stuff," he nodded to the article that she had accidentally crumbled.

A faint blush rushed to Lucy's cheeks at the compliment, "Um, I have a boyfriend," she whispered.

The bashful smile fell of his George's face as he nodded, "Oh alright—I mean, I kinda figured. There's no way that a girl as beautiful and smart as you wasn't taken. But uh, do I have to worry about someone trying to kick my ass?"

Lucy shook her head as she looked up at his goofy grimace, "No, uh, we had some stupid deal. And I'm so sorry—I like you a lot and you're a great guy and anyone would be lucky to have you but I just—I," her nerves were off the chart and she couldn't stop rambling.

"You love him," George finished.

"Yeah," Lucy whispered softly.

The boy nodded in understanding, "Well, come on," and he held his hand out for the blonde as she hopped down from the desk and the two walked back out to the hallway. "Um, well, if anything happens with the boyfriend, you can let me know—even if it's just because you need someone to beat him up."

Lucy pushed her hair away from her face, "Thanks, but, he's pretty smart so I shouldn't need a hitman or anything," she joked.

"Good, and good luck with the whole college search," George nodded.

The small blonde stood up on her toes to give him a quick hug, "Thank you, and I'll be keeping up with your column!"

And as soon as George left to rejoin his friends, Lucy turned and saw Donna and Jackie. "Hey, have you guys seen Steven?"

"Um, kinda," Donna answered awkwardly.

Jackie finished, "But he was too preoccupied frenching some gross brunette who doesn't know how to wear bangs." She looked past Lucy and pointed to the curly haired boy with the same girl from earlier in his lap.

❁

Lucy nodded slowly, not really able to look away from the scene—similar to a trainwreck—you want to but you can't. All she kept repeating in her head was don't cry, don't cry, don't cry as she felt her chest tighten and her stomach drop. But out loud all she said was "Admittedly not one of my better ideas."

"You can say that again," Jackie and Donna said simultaneously. The three all watched on and from across the room, Fez saw the girls and rushed over to Hyde, tapping him on the shoulder before pointing over to Lucy when he finally removed himself from the girl.

The couple made eye contact for just a moment before Lucy quickly rushed off to sit outside. Hyde quickly getting up to follow her.

The blonde was leaned up against the brick wall, sniffing and wiping the tears away from her eyes that wouldn't seem to stop falling. Hyde stood in front of her for a moment before furrowing his eyebrows, "Are you crying?" In all their years of hating one another when they were younger, all the times he made fun of her for being flatchested, or making fun of her loves for The Beatles, or pulling her braids—he never once made her cry. So he wasn't quite sure how to react.

Lucy looked up at him and smiled sadly, scoffing slightly, "I guess we should've clarified if frenching was okay."

"Oh, as if you and Mr. Down Under didn't," Hyde accused. Lucy looked at him but didn't protest, "Exactly," Hyde nodded, feeling the anger in his chest rise as he stuffed his hands in his pockets.

"Well, like I said, we should've clarified since you're gonna be pissed off with me," Lucy exclaimed exasperated, her eyes stinging with new tears before she wiped them away.

Hyde shook his head, his voice rising, "I just don't get why you're gonna be out here crying about it when it's something we agreed on—something you thought of! Because you're still that brat that always have to have the last word."

Lucy frowned before raising her own shaky voice, "I'm allowed to be upset! I'm allowed to cry after seeing the boy I love with a girl that's not me! So congrats, we both won, good game," she shook her head and took a deep breath before continuing a little more calmly, "So either sit here and be with me and tell me it will be okay without calling me a brat or a bitch or whatever, or just leave me the hell alone Steven."

She looked down at the ground, kicking at the pebbles near her in silence as she watched Hyde hesitantly take a step forward before walking off muttering "Whatever," under his breath. She tried rapidly blinking away the tears as she slowly sat down on the ground, her knees pulled up to her chest.

Within a minute, footsteps hesitantly approached her and she turned to see her twin who she shot a feeble smile as he sat beside her. "Donna told me," he said quietly.

She sighed, "I'm just so dumb. He left."

Eric slung an arm around her shoulder as Lucy rested her head on his shoulder, "He just has to figure some stuff out on his own. You know how he is. And you're not dumb Luce, you're the smartest person I know."

❁

Hyde stormed into the motel room, slamming the door shut behind him before laying down on the small couch.

"What crawled up your butt?" Red asked from his spot on the bed, not looking away from the television.

"Nothing," Hyde mumbled, "I just hate it here."

"That makes two of us," Red nodded. The two sat in silence, the only noise being the quiet voices from the television set. "You and Lucy fighting?"

Hyde snapped up, "Huh? Why would I even care if we were?"

"Oh bullshit. Do you think I was born yesterday? I know what's been going on with you two," Red explained.

"What?" Hyde asked, befuddled.

Red scoffed, "Well, what kind of idiot do you take me for? Didn't take long to figure out since Lucy isn't as sneaky as she likes to think."

Hyde looked around curiously for a moment, stunned, "Just so we're on the same page, what do you think has been happening between us?"

"You've been dating behind our backs for months," Red said monotonously, still not looking away from the tv.

Hyde nodded, impressed, "Okay then, great talk."

"Listen, I'm not going to lecture you. I know my daughter is a good girl, and you're a good kid too Steven. I know that she makes her own decisions, and if you weren't treating her right she would've left you by now—so you must be doing something right. That's why I didn't feel I needed to say anything; she's not impulsive like Laurie or a dumbass like Eric, I've never had to worry about her as much as those two. And you obviously make her—happy or something, so you better figure it out." Red explained before taking a restrained breath, obviously talking about this made him as uncomfortable as it did Hyde. "The second you take her for granted is when we have an issue. Understood?"

"Yes sir," Hyde nodded, looking back to the television, both glad that the conversation was over. Hyde suddenly feeling the guilt of making Lucy cry weigh on his shoulders.

❁

On the ride back, Lucy and Eric refused to go separately—much like when they were younger. But it ensured that Lucy wouldn't see Steven until both cars got back.

The Cruiser finally pulled into the driveway, right beside the Station Wagon, which must've arrived not ten minutes ago because Fez's bags were still in it. Lucy hopped out of the Cruiser, opening up the back and struggling to pull her bag out since it was lodged underneath Jackie's. "Let me help you with that," a voice said behind her.

She turned around and bumped straight into the curly haired boy, "Thanks," she mumbled.

Hyde carrying Lucy's bags, the two walked back over next door, but Hyde stopped suddenly on the porch. "I know I royally screwed up," he said abruptly.

Lucy finally looked up to look at him, eyes wide, "I mean I did too."

Hyde shook his head, "I shouldn't have left you alone. I should've stayed with you."

"So just stay with me now," Lucy smiled, sighing in relief when Steven dropped the bags and pulled her in to hug her.

"I love you," he murmured against her forehead as he placed a gentle kiss.

Cupping his face and kissing him softly she whispered with a smile, "I love you too."