Donna

Donna was a bad girl. She was in continuation school. She had sex. She smoked weed, drank and rumor had it she was fond of crank. She was being raised by her grandmother who never seemed to be home so her house was a cool place to hang out and smoke out.

Roger and I were getting stoned with Donna and I was admiring her skinny frame and short punky hair. She wore short skirts and tight heavy metal t-shirts and I found her very sexy. Allowing myself not to think about Doug, her older and bigger boyfriend I encouraged Donna to give us a little dance and maybe to model some of the sexy undergarment strewn about her room. She flashed a little panty at us and took off her shirt. We looked on wide eyed and then she sent us home. I got a call from her that night.

"Keith, I have to tell Doug about today." she told me.

"WHAT! Why? We didn't do anything, you were just dancing. It was nothing. You don't have to tell Doug. He'll just freak out."

"He'll know I'm keeping something. I have to tell him."

I was scared shitless for a few days and then I ran into Doug at the gas station/convenience store where I went to play Super Mario Brothers.

"I hear Donna gave you guys a little dance." Doug greeted me with it.

"What? Oh, no, it was nothing. She was changing, and she told us not to look..."

"Shut up Jensen. She told me you guys encouraged her to take off her clothes."

"Uh, look Doug, nothing happened. We were all high and she is a pretty girl, but I didn't..."

"Just stay the fuck away from her, asshole." and with this he walked away. The ultimate insult. I was just a gnat, not even worth the effort to swat.

Donna and I didn't talk much, until I started to notice she was looking really bad. She'd gotten skinnier and paler. I approached her at lunch. "Hey, Donna, what's up? You don't look to good."

She bullshitted me for a while and then I went to her best friend Rachel. "Rachel what's up with Donna.

"She's pregnant, and she's doing shitloads of crank. I think she's trying to kill the baby."

"Oh shit. Look Rachel, we have to do something, right away. This isn't something we can fuck around with or she's gonna end up dead." Rachel agreed and we decided that we'd go to the principal who was a really great guy. We had a conference with him and let him know what was happening with Donna. Then I waited to be labelled a nark and to have my ass kicked.

Donna called that night. "Keith, thanks." I was surprised and relieved.

"Does Doug know you're pregnant?"

"No."

"What are you going to do?"

"I've done so much speed, I'm sure the baby's all fucked up. I need to get an abortion."

I didn't know if I was pro-life or pro-choice but I knew I didn't like the idea of abortions at all. But she was right. She was so underweight and messed up, it seemed unlikely she'd have a healthy baby. I called my friend Jim, made him promise to keep his mouth shut about it and we drove Donna to the clinic and back home after.

Donna started to look like herself again. She asked me to be her boyfriend. I told her no. She was a mess and she still had Doug. She was pissed at me for a while but she got over it.

When summer came we talked on the phone regularly and we became friends, until one conversation put an end to it. "I gotta diet, Doug says I've got a fat ass." she was telling me.

"Why would he say that?" I asked, though I didn't expect to hear the correct answer of 'Because he's an asshole.'

"Because I do."

"Donna, you don't have a fat ass. You have a cute little ass."

"What the fuck." a voice that was not Donna's boomed. "Why are you telling my wife she's got a cute ass."

I could've explained that it was with in context. I could have explained that I was like one of her girlfriends. Instead I said, "Why are you listening in on her phone calls?"

"That's it, I'm kicking your ass."

I wasn't too worried about Doug. I never ran into him anymore. I'd started a cable access show and spent most of my time taping or editing bands. I hardly ever hung out at the gas station any more, I didn't need to; we had a Nintendo Entertainment System at home with Super Mario Brothers.

I didn't talk to Donna for the rest of that summer. The continuation school I'd been attending was for 9th and 10th grade students only. I tranfered to Adalante Continuation School for my Junior year. My class mates all looked like adults. Big, hairy, tattooed, adults. One of these big, hairy guys was Doug. He and Donna were married now. What could be more romantic than attending High School with your wife? They hardly seemed to notice me and I assumed things had blown over.

I was listening to Sigue Sigue Sputnik on my headphones and waiting for some friends when a kid I didn't know approached. "You Jensen?"

"Yeah."

"Hey, Doug wants to talk to you in the parking lot."

I figured there was no use avoiding the confrontation, and who knows, he'd been pretty easy on me last time, maybe this would be the same. It was a bad sign that he had a bunch of big guys around him, multiplying his testosterone. "What's up Doug."

"I thought you might want to tell my wife she had a nice ass again, faggot."

"If I'm a faggot than what's the problem? Its not like I'd be after her ass?" Why oh why couldn't I keep my mouth shut?

One of his caveman friends stepped forward and clocked me in the face. It took my by complete surprise and he hit me hard enough to spin me around. I continued the momentum and walked quickly away. The crowd of guys laughed. Donna had smiled though the whole affair. I started to wonder if she'd set me up on the phone.

I was so pissed. I wanted to go back and yell 'Who took your fucking wife to get an abortion when you knocked her up and didn't seem to notice? Who kept her alive when she was trying to kill herself with speed? I've got all right in the world to tell her she has a nice ass. And ass she was perfectly willing to share with me instead of you.' I got a ride home instead so I could avoid another run in with Doug or any of his gorrillas.

That night I heard a knock on the front door of my parents home. I looked through the window and saw someone I recognized from school. "What do you want." I asked without opening the door.

"Come out here. We want to talk to you." I headed up stairs to tell my dad what was going on and I heard their car screach off. The next day a thug named Thai made it clear he'd been in the car. "Where were you going last night? To grab a gun?" he asked smirking.

"Why don't you come back tonight and find out I asked him.

I transfered out of Adalante and back to the regular high school. My troubles with Doug and Donna were done.

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