If Donna and her parents moved to Point Place, and into the house neighboring the Formans', the summer between 8th and 8th grade: how would her relationship with Eric (Hyde, and Kelso) be different? How would it be the same? How would it develop?
Thank you for the ask!
Ooh, interesting. If Donna and Eric didn't grow up next door to each other, but instead Donna moved to Point Place in middle school, I think...
Donna and Eric
- Their families wouldn't be close in the same way they are in canon. Red & Kitty and Bob & Midge used to vacation together and be very close when their kids were smaller, it was only later/into the '70s when Bob and Midge started falling in with all the fads of the time that they became 'weird' to Red & Kitty and grew apart (sort of). Hence I always imagine Eric and Donna having an almost cousin-like relationship when they were growing up - the others' parents were their second set of parents/second home, their two families shared traditions, they were raised together and went through childhood together, giving them an almost familial bond. I think if the Pinciottis had moved to Point Place later, that relationship between the two families (and thus, between Eric and Donna) would've been very different. I don't know that Red & Kitty and Bob & Midge would become friends at all. They'd probably just be those crazy new neighbors next door to the Formans.
- Eric and Donna, however, would still become fast friends. Their relationship might start out contentious (like it did in canon), maybe based on some sort of misunderstanding, but Eric's sincerity quickly wins Donna over. He realizes she's lonely and doesn't know anyone in town yet (not that she'll say that, stubborn girl), maybe she's always out playing basketball alone in her driveway, and Eric invites her to the basement and brings her into the gang.
- Eric (and the other guys) would have a raging crush on her right from the get-go, but Donna would make it clear she only has platonic feelings for any of them. They'd become a tight-knit little gang before middle school was over - sort of 'Wendy and her lost boys' (which is pretty much what I imagine in canon, too). Eric would always defend her when the other guys (ok, mostly Kelso) blurred those boundaries or made her feel uncomfortable. That's how he wins over her trust.
- By high school, Donna's developed full-fledged feelings for Eric but doesn't know how to express them/what to do about them. She's afraid of making a move or revealing her true feelings, and their friendship changing. From here on out, it pretty much matches canon. 🤷♀️
Others
- I think Kelso, Hyde, and Eric would all be infatuated with her when she first arrives, and they'd all develop varying ranges of crushes on her.
- Hyde's crush on Donna might escalate quicker than it did in canon - considering Eric and Donna don't have that 'childhood sweethearts' backstory - but I think it would have the same ultimate outcome: Donna tells him she just doesn't have feelings for him like that, but sees him as a good friend. Hyde struggles to accept this - even more so when Donna and Eric start to date in high school. He's hurt by her choice, her rejection, and for awhile he passive-aggressively takes it out on both Eric and Donna until they all eventually resolve it.
- I actually think Donna and Kelso's relationship would remain pretty much the same. Ditto to her and Jackie, who would still join the gang around Donna's junior year of high school when she starts dating Kelso.