Escaping Virginia

Chapter 2

"Hey!"

Jock Primrose turned around, smirking when he saw Mexico descending on him, her gaze set and focused on a point just above on his forehead. Bluebell-Rose threw her white-blonde hair around and laughed openly from where she was settled in Jock's arms when she saw the angry girl coming towards them. When Mexico finally arrived in front of them, obviously fuming, she detached herself from her boyfriend and narrowed her eyes, her gaze tightening.

"If it isn't the school virgin." said Jock, his tone drawn out and arrogant. "What's up, Guatemala."

Bluebell-Rose screech-giggled in such a high pitched tone that Mexico winced in pain. The school's old deaf janitor, Matvei, who was passing them at that moment with a mop and bucket, paused, then said in his thick Russian accent "Funny. I dun't remember dere being a fire alarm scheduled fur todey."

There was an uproar from the kids who had stood around to watch the drama go down, as there is nothing more satisfying for insecure teenagers than to see unrest and maybe, if they're lucky, even physical violence (as long as they aren't actually caught up in the middle of it).

A group of particularly witty sophomores made comments about how Bluebell-Rose should replace the fire alarm after she'd failed all her exams.

Bluebell stopped giggling abruptly and flushed an unladylike shade of purple. She looked like a beetroot with bad sunburn.

Mexico had to bite the inside of her cheek to stop herself from laughing out loud, then she cleared her throat as if to remind herself of the seriousness of the situation and focused again on the problem at hand, which was smirking in front of her and running a massive hand through its oily mop of hair.

"Hilarious." said Mexico, at Jock's comment about her name. "Were your parents so afraid you'd become a fairy boy because of your last name that they had to pick Jock as your first? To sort of counterbalance? Was that their logic? And I thought the era of toxic masculinity was going to be solved by the millennials." She made a grand motion with her arms at the last word, rolling her eyes dramatically.

Jock's face worked. He wasn't entirely sure what this virginal snarky chick had said, but from her tone of voice he knew it couldn't be good. He'd learnt most of his insults from reading Dickens, which meant that they were a bit outdated. Unfortunately, he had no comeback, so he just spluttered. Even Bluebell-Rose seemed stunned for a second.

Barbara-Ann, who had just exited her honours English class, saw the entire scene unfolding: Jock squaring up to her best friend, who was standing defensively and holding her ground, and Bluebell-Rose next to Jock, her hand on his arm, all surrounded by a group of (mostly) sophomore kids. The circle was spread out enough for it not to be obvious, and yet tight enough for it to clearly be a circle.

Barbara-Ann debated whether to flee, but was spotted by her encircled friend before a decision could be made. Mexico threw Barbara-Ann a wide-eyed look of desperation, and with a resigned glance towards the door of the high school and the freedom that came with it, the latter sidled up next to Mexico for moral support. "Hey." She muttered to her friend, before glaring at Jock and Bluebell-Rose. Mexico merely squeezed her hand gratefully.

"I've heard some of the rumors you've been spreading, Jock." said Mexico, trying to stay calm for the time being. "I'd like to ask you to stop."

Bluebell-Rose let out a sound not unlike a cow giving birth. It was impressive. "Or what, you bloody skank?" she asked in her awful  British accent.

Barbara-Ann laughed so hard she choked and started coughing uncontrollably. Mexico slapped her on the back without really thinking about it, her eyes staring into space, probably thinking about a good comeback. It took everyone a long time to think of comebacks.