“I would, except Peter won’t let me do it. And Donna LaDonna won’t talk to me. I mean, I’m a freshman. And then she put the word out that if anyone talks about it at all, they’ll have to deal with her.”
“Really?”
“And who wants to go up against Donna LaDonna? Let’s face it.” Gayle sighs. “She runs the school.”
“Or thinks she does, anyway.”
At that moment, Peter returns. “I’m going to meet Maggie at the Fox Run Mall. You want to come?”
“Sure,” I say, gathering my things. “I’m meeting Sebastian there anyway.”
“Bye, Carrie,” Gayle says. “It was nice to meet you. And don’t worry. I won’t try to talk to you if I see you in the hall.”
“Don’t be silly, Gayle. You come up and talk to me anytime you like.”
“Gayle probably told you all about Donna LaDonna and her sister, Ramona,” Peter says as we cross the parking lot to a rusty yellow station wagon.
“Mmmhmmm,” I murmur.
“It’s all a bunch of BS. No one is interested in that boring girl talk.”
“Is that how you think of it? As boring girl talk?”
“Yeah. Isn’t that what it is?”
I open the passenger door, knock a bunch of papers to the floor, and get in. “Funny. I always thought you were more evolved when it came to women.”
“What do you mean?” Peter pumps the gas and turns the key. It takes a few tries to get the engine going.
“I never figured you for a guy who can’t stand the sound of women’s voices. You know, those guys who tell their girlfriends to shut up when they’re trying to tell them something.”
“Who told you I was that kind of guy? Maggie? I’m not that kind of guy, I promise you.”
“Why won’t you let Gayle do her story, then? Or is this really about Donna LaDonna?”
“It has nothing to do with her,” he says, clumsily changing gears.
“How well do you know her? Honestly?”
“Why?”
I shrug. “I heard you were talking about her at Lali’s party.”
“So?”
“So Maggie is a really good friend of mine. And she’s a great girl. I don’t want to see her get hurt.”
“Who says she’s going to get hurt?”
“She’d better not get hurt. That’s all.”
We drive a little farther, and then Peter says, “You don’t have to do it.”
“What?”
“Be nice to Gayle. She’s a pain in the ass. Once you talk to her, you can’t get rid of her.”
“She seems okay to me.” I give him a dirty look, remembering how he wouldn’t even take Maggie to the clinic to get the birth control pills.