Escaping Virginia

Chapter 8

"WELCOME TO CLASS MY CUTE LITTLE POTATOES, TODAY, WE WILL BE LEARNING MORE ABOUT LINEAR EQUATIONS! PLEASE HAND IN YOUR HOMEWORK AND START WORKING IN PAIRS!" She said loudly, for Ms Rhubarb was as deaf as a bat, and as easily distracted as one too (the reason most people loved her).

Mexico looked slightly less disgruntled, working in pairs meant she could work with Barbara-Ann or Daisy Bloomfeld, who were on either side of her (and both better at Maths than she was). All three of them handed their homework along to Harper Bentley, the school's notorious teacher's pet, who took everyone's homework to the front of the class, handing them over with a glowing "Here you are, Ms Rhubarb."

"WHY THANK YOU DEAR." beamed the teacher. "SUCH A THOUGHTFUL GIRL"

Barbara-Ann sighed to herself. Time was passing quickly and Mexico had already successfully asked out Jeikeh, meaning she had won the first challenge. She had to find someone too... surely it couldn't be that hard.

"NOW, LET'S GET YOU ALL SORTED INTO PAIRS!" Ms Rhubarb practically shouted. "MEXICO, JOIN DAISY PLEASE! PENCIL, WITH JEIKEH! BARBARA-ANN, MILES!"

Barbara-Ann looked around for Miles before her eyes landed on a tall, thin boy who was standing up and making his way over. He sat down beside her boredly, pulling out his binder and his calculator.

Barbara-Ann didn't know Miles well, even though she wished she knew him better, he was genuinely sweet to everyone and had a really good sense of fashion. Right now though, he looked like he'd prefer not to make eye contact with her.

"Hi." he cleared his throat, then tried again "Hi."

"Hey." said Barbara-Ann warmly.

"Do you understand this?" Miles gestured to the squiggly equation on the paper before them. She nodded assuredly. "Could you explain it?"

Barbara-Ann's eyes slid up and down the boy's face, then to his shoulders. He was slim and remarkably tall, and not bad looking. Perhaps she could ask him out. He might say yes - he wasn't a nerd or a loser, but neither was he a very popular kid, and he definitely wouldn't mind a date with Ann, if nothing more because of the social boost it would give him.

They worked in silence for a while. Miles' face was almost consistently confused but Barbara-Ann was too caught up in her mental debate over whether or not she should ask him out to notice or care.

"Hey, um..." said Barbara-Ann but when Miles looked up at her expectantly she chickened out, instead pointing at his paper and spluttering "The value of x isn't 7, it's 4."

Miles wrinkled his brow. "Shit. I was sure that was right. Can you explain?"

"Uh huh." Barbara-Ann shifted closer to him. Social interaction was a good first step, she decided. Maybe she should whisper into his ear? She had once read that whispering makes people think about intimacy... She glanced over to Mexico and Daisy, who were discussing something in hushed tones. Barbara-Ann was willing to bet her two cats (Concrete and Brian), that the topic of discussion was Jeikeh.

"MR DE-HAY-VES!" Ms Rhubarb's voice cut through the silence of students working as hard as Trump was at being a good POTUS (not very hard, admittedly). A few students jumped violently and Harper Bentley spilled the contents of her pencil case onto the floor with a loud crash.

No one realised who Ms Rhubarb was addressing until after Harper's pencils were all back in her case and she had sat back down with a hushed "Sorry". They only realised because Ms Rhubarb was still staring at Jeikeh in disapproval.

"Me?" he asked obliviously, looking behind him.

"YES MR DEE-HAY-VES, YOU!" Snapped the teacher. Her red, frizzy hair was coming out of its tight bun. You could practically smell the detention in the air.