donna, district 5. fin

Promise to be a real one, don't tell my dad, okay? He'll get so pissed with me, especially because I told him I wasn't gonna drink at school anymore. Like yeah, yada yada, I just like that it makes the time go by faster, really. Between us though, you have got to admit it's fucking hilarious, I don't think that art history could actually be entertaining until I stopped going sober. 

Sure though, I'll knock it off when it starts affecting my grades. I mean, I always do, it's a gentle balance of underaged drinking. Whenever my grades drop, dad freaks out and gets my mom involved, and it always feels like I'm wasting her time. God, so last time, Eric stole my art project thinking it was a tray and he & Kelso repainted the whole thing once they realized. Problem was, this clay bowl was louder than weed itself, like they mixed the ashes into the paint or something, I don't know how they do these things. 

But so here I fucking am, right, sophomore Donna turning in this bowl that smells like the blunt train just ran through it to deliver all the Ratmas joints to the good young stoners & potheads. I think I wound up getting a sympathetic B, but my teacher pulled me aside to ask me about the smell and you know what I said? 

"Oh, dad's been smoking in the house again!"

Anyways, we didn't get fully busted for it. My dad does smoke cigarettes, so it wasn't a terrible lie, but he felt awful for so long about it and then they got my mom involved. That's what makes me feel guilty; he's upset and now I'm wasting my mom's time over it. Man, that was about when she first started working in district four, but even back then she was pretty busy. She's my mom and all, but I feel so guilty every time she has to drop everything and call home. 

I keep my grades up, I keep myself sober in school and everything's just fine. But I remember sitting in that cold damn justice building and my mom's borderline freaking, being all like "what do they mean Bob's been smoking in the house?" because she didn't know he was smoking again. I don't get how that's my fault, maybe if she was around she would know what's going on in her own house.  

Hey, why do you take such baby sips? Here, chug a little. 

Honestly? It makes it easier.  

Word of advice though, if you drink around the guys go slow with it. That way you look like you can handle it, I used to hide water bottles in Eric's bathroom so him and Jackie didn't get clowned on. Yeah, that's why smoking is better honestly, at least then you can blame munchies and dry mouth. Oh! Dude, I kept meaning to ask but do you want to be in my documentary? It's about imported animal protection laws, Jackie & I have been working on it for- 

I've been working on it for our senior project. But it's been nice, we've been all over the district getting interviews and clips, I write the script and she reads it pretty well. Trust me, I'm fine with doing all the work if she wants to be the face, I've never been good at being pretty. I just want to write the damn thing and read it back. 

Don't get me wrong, I think it's something I'd want to do after school. If I could just wet dream it into existence, I'd be a poet or something out in district four, spend my time in a beach cottage and write some metaphoric bullshit about the ocean. Everybody talks about it, so maybe one day I'll just... y'know. 

Make it. 

Maybe you can visit! Oh dude, just imagine the strains they have out there. Ugh, this bathroom smells like shit, we should probably get back to class. 

No, no, don't flush the roach, if anything Eric can do something with it. That man can reduce, reuse, recycle like he's paid to do it. Besides, if we get caught with it we'll get in more trouble with Jackie's fomo than anything else. 

See you at the circle tonight? 

Cool.