Chapter four

When Vinnie and Donna had arrived outside of an apartment building, Donna immediately became confused. She asked him if the radio station was inside, commenting on what a strange location for a radio station this would be. Vinnie laughed nd then replied that this was just a detour. There was someone special to him that he wanted her to meet. With a small smile, she agreed and then she began heading for the building's entracnce. Before she could head up the steps, Vinnie grabbed her and steered her in a different direction.

"Not that way! Come on. I have a special entrance. This way." He pointed up at something along the side of the building.

Donna frowned, confused and unsure. "The fire escape?"

"Trust me. It's faster. Just follow me. I do this all the time."

"Alright, well you know best." She grinned a little.

Donna was confused and curious as she followed Vinnie up the fire escape. The entire time, she wondered where he possibly could have been taking her. She also wondered why they couldn't take the stairs inside like normal people. When they reached a particular window, Vinnie peeked into the apartment before tapping on the window. A few moments later, a man came to the window and opened it.

"Why if it isn't Vinnie Barbarino!" Gabe exclaimed with a grin and slight laugh in his voice. "What's the matter, Vinnie? You miss being in school so much that you came to see me?"

"Very funny." Vinnie said, not amused. He casually climbed in through the window. "Actually I just dropped by because there's someone I'd like you to meet."

Julie walked over, joining them, and she smiled. "Oh? Don't tell me you brought a girlfriend here."

Vinnie frowned. "No." He turned to call out the window. "Hey Donna!"

"Well if it's not a girlfriend, then some guy out there has a very feminine name." Gabe joked.

Vinnie helped Donna inside and then they turned to face Gabe and Julie.

"Mr. Kotter, Mrs. Kotter. This is my cousin Donna. She's here visiting from Wisconsin."

"Oh this is the cousin you mentioned?" Gabe grinned and then moved in to shake Donna's hand. "Well nice to meet you, Donna. I'm Gabe, this is my wife Julie."

Donna grinned, greeting them both. "Nice to meet both of you. Though I'm not exactly sure why I'm meeting you."

"Donna, Mr. Kotter is my teacher. He teaches all us Sweathogs." Vinnie said "Well, sorta." He waved his hand, emphasizing his point.

"Oh really?" Donna looked at Gabe. "What do you teach?"

"Well I try to teach the Sweathogs to use the door when they come here. But in school I teach social studies."

"That's great!" Donna smiled "I love social studies." Her eyebrows pushed together in confusion. "Wait. You mean they all come over here? What so you can tutor them or something?"

"No." Julie said with a painful grin. "They just come here to hang out. A lot. Sometimes it's like they never leave." She laughed. "They practically live here."

"Really?" Donna looked at Vinnie. "That's, um, that's really weird. I mean there are some teachers back home I admire more than others. But I'd never want to spend time with them in their home. Or anywhere outside of school really."

"Hey." Vinnie said, a bit offended. "Mr. Kotter is the first teacher that ever really meant anything to me and my friends. We don't learn much from him in the classroom, but if not for him, we all would've dropped out of school by now." He grinned a little, looking at Gabe. "Besides. He's more than our teacher. He's our friend."

"That's a nice thought and all, and don't get me wrong, I'm glad you finally were able to connect with a teacher, Vinnie. But, still, coming to your teacher's apartment all the time, that's weird."

Julie laughed "Thank you! Finally someone who understands! Donna you have no idea how much I've wanted to say that."

"Well good thing I came here then." Donna smiled

"Now Donna," Gabe said, taking a step closer to her. "You may not understand my close relationship with my students. But what I would like to know is, are there other people in your family as smart as you seem?"

"Um," Donna laughed a little, "no, not really. I mean everybody in our family is pretty dumb, unfortunately. On both sides actually. But I guess I was lucky. I guess you can say I became the smart sheep of the family."

Gabe chuckled. "Smart sheep. I like that. Hey Donna, speaking of family. I've got this uncle-"

Julie placed a hand on Gabe's shoulder, stopping him. "Gabe. I don't think Donna came all the way from Wisconsin to hear one of your uncle jokes."

"Just one little joke?"

"No, Gabe."

"What's wrong with his jokes?' Donna asked

Vinnie waved his hand. "Trust us. You don't want to hear it. You'll never forgive me if I let you hear one of them."

"That bad, huh? Well I guess I'll take your word for it. Oh hey, Vinnie, we better be going. I've got that interview, remember?"

"Oh right, right. Well Mr. Kotter, Mrs. Kotter, we gotta split. I promised I'd get her to the radio station on time."

"Radio station?"

"Oh yeah." Donna grinned. "I'm interviewing for a summer job there. See in Wisconsin I work at a local radio station. Recently started an on air gig under the name of Hot Donna. I'm hoping to bring Hot Donna over here for the summer. They're interviewing me over at the Bad Lands to see how well I do. If they like me then I'd be a guest DJ for a couple weeks next month."

"Oh wow!" Julie exclaimed, impressed. "That's great, Donna, real great. I hope you get the job. Then maybe we'll see you again."

"Thanks. I'd love to stay longer to get to know Vinnie's teacher and his wife. Which is still weird. But we really must be going." She looked at Vinnie. "I assume the way we came in?"

"Right. Ladies first." He helped her out the window. "See you later Mr. Kotter, Mrs. Kotter."

"Later Vinnie." Gabe said, watching Vinnie climb out the window. He called out after him. "Nice to meet you, Donna! Oh and Vinnie if you bring her by again, use the door! It's that big rectangle thing with the silver knob!"

Vinnie walked Donna into the radio station, where Freddie was waiting for them. Freddie had just finished his segment on the air and left the booth to greet the two new arrivals. Before greeting him, Vinnie stepped back and said he had to leave for a little while, and left Donna in Freddie's hands.

Donna smiled. "Wow, hey! Vinnie didn't tell me you work here."

"Yeah I normally come here after school for a few hours. I'll have longer shifts now I'm out of school for the summer." He grinned slickly. "It's a great gig. Haven't had it long but I dig it."

"Cool. Maybe we'll get to work together if I get this job. But it'll only be a couple weeks."

"That's be coo'. Maybe we can be a team." He laughed a little "Yeah yeah and we can come up with cool nicknames for us like Dark Chocolate and, uh, Big Red."

Donna laughed a little. "Um, maybe we can work on that. But hey, I already here in on air name at the radio station where I work back home."

"Oh yeah? What is it?"

She laughed, blushing a little "It's Hot Donna."

"Yeah." He grinned. "You sure are."

It was right then when Wally the Wow stepped out of the booth. He greeted both of them, stepping closer to Donna.

"Wally the Wow, nice to meet you." He shook her hand. "You must be Donna. I've heard a lot about you from your current boss at-"

"The Sound. Right." Donna nodded. She looked at him a bit confused. "Excuse me. I don't mean to stare. But you look an awful lot like my boss back home. Only he's older. You even sound alike. It's pretty uncanny."

"You're from Wisconsin, right?" Donna confirmed by nodding. "That would be my uncle. If he wasn't so much older than me, people would swear we were twins. See I took after him in and outside of the business. He taught me everything I know about radio."

"Oh that's cool." She said, impressed "Well I hope he put in a real good word for me." She smiled.

"Oh he has. Come sit over here, Donna. We'll get on with this interview. But I can tell you already that your chances here are great."

"Great! I'm real excited!"

They walked over to the table and sat down. Freddie came over and placed a hand on Donna's shoulder. "Hey listen, I'ma take off. Let me know how your interview goes. See you later on at the boardwalk."

"Right. Later, Freddie." She smiled.

Freddie smiled back, giving her a small wave before ducking out of the room. As soon as they were alone, Wally the Wow and Donna began the interview. Donna kept her cool and remained professional the entire time. But on the inside she could not ignore her excitement. Excitement over the potential summer job. Excitement over meeting new friends. And excitement for the plans they al had for that night. It already seemed to her that her road trip idea was turning out much better than she originally thought it would.