"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 He'd learnt most of his insults from reading Dickens, which meant that they were a bit outdated.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.

Bluebell-Rose edged away from Barbara-Ann. "Ew, get away from me. I don't want your bacterial infections."

Barbara-Ann recovered enough to look up at Bluebell's revolted face and say. "There was something stuck in my throat. And why are you so disgusted, huh? I'm sure you can relate to my situation."

"OHHHHHHH!" Yelled the pimply, skinny kids who were standing around. They were getting all they wanted at the moment: this was probably the highlight of their week (or month, for some)).

Bluebell-Rose yelled over the noise, which subsided almost immediately once she started speaking, meaning that for a second, she shouted shrilly into an almost silent hallway.

"You don't get to speak to me that way! I'm British, not American! I'm a lady! How dare you-"

"Yes, Lady Heathcote-Drummond-Willoughby, we know and we acknowledge thy power." Barbara-Ann said sarcastically, cutting her off. "Now kindly shut the fuck up."

Bluebell-Rose looked appalled, obliging only because no one had ever spoken to her that way before.

"And drop the accent, please!" added Barbara. "It's torturous!"

"It's not an accent, it's an intonation," said Bluebell-Rose Honey Heathcote-Drummond-Willoughby with an air of self-satisfaction, merely because she knew the word intonation.

"Well, then, if my lady could please refrain from using her intonation unless it's an extreme emergency, for example, if all the crumpets are gone, my good lady, I would be incredibly obliged." said Barbara-Ann with an accent to rival Bluebell's.

Bluebell snorted and rolled her eyes, trying to look superior and above all this American highschool nonsense..

"I can spread whatever rumours I like." Jock turned to Mexico. His eyebrows twitched like he dared her to oppose him. "Anyway, it's not like they're not true."

"Shut up, Jock" said Mexico, looking driven but slightly defensive. "You don't know that! And even if it were true, that's no reason to bully someone!"

Jock snickered. "Aww, do you feel bullied, you poor defenceless girl?"

"That's it!" hissed Barbara-Ann. She looked like she was about to throw a punch. Mexico wrapped her arms around her friend before she could leap onto Jock.

Jock continued: "And it's so true! You haven't even kissed anybody yet! Don't try and deny it!"

Mexico deflated. She didn't know what to say, she felt helpless. Jock's expression was triumphant. "You- don't-" she began, without really knowing what she was about to say. Even Barbara-Ann was silent.

"Jock!" came a voice suddenly. It was Jeikeh Dheivis, and he didn't look happy with his friend.  

"Oh my god, J-ey-key, go away!" Bluebell-Rose whined. Although Jeikeh and Jock were good friends, Bluebell hated their friendship because Jeikeh was connected to Barbara and Mexico.

The latter was turning towards her potential saviour with wide puppy-eyes. Her heart soared.

"It's pronounced Jake." Jeikeh replied simply, pushing his blond surfer hair out of his eyes and blinking confusedly. "You know that, Bluebell."

Bluebell blushed, partially at his complete ignorance and partially in embarrassment as a few people laughed.

"Anyway, lay off Mexico. She can do whatever the fuck she wants."

"Yeah, flower girl."

"You are literally the worst at insults!" Bluebell-Rose exclaimed.

"Oh, really? You got anything better, Queen Violet-Lily?"

The crowd oohed again loudly.

Bluebell looked panicked for a moment, nudging Jock discreetly. They exchanged looks and for a moment Barbara was afraid that she had triggered a use of the n-word.

However, Bluebell simply stuck out her tongue childishly, rolling her brown eyes at both of them, and flicking her hair back. The action reminded Barbara of last year when Bluebell had attempted to start telling people she looked like Paris Hilton. It had worked fine until the news had reached a girl in the year above who was actually a model. The unfortunate Bluebell had -unknowing of her model status- insulted this girl plenty, and they had had an epic corridor showdown - not unlike this one - in which the girl had called Bluebell a hopeless skank and incredibly ugly.

Everyone had felt somewhat sorry for Bluebell after that, but if Barbara had any remaining feelings of remorse for Bluebell they were now banished.

"Your hair looks like it's been dragged through a tractor!"

Ooh, racial insult. Of course Bluebell  would stoop that low.

"Yeah, but yours looks like you stole it off a Walmart mannequin, so you tell me who's worse off!" Barbara-Ann flicked her long braids behind her back as she rolled her eyes. Bluebell-Rose actually had awful hair - it was originally dark brown but she bleached it constantly, which meant a lot of it was damaged and half torn.

There were lots more oohs around them, but Mexico suddenly grabbed Barbara-Ann's wrist, jerking her towards her.

"Let's go, Babs. She isn't worth wasting more time on..."

"Hey, what about me?" Jeikeh asked. He had been standing there forgotten and looked absolutely clueless.

Mexico turned to him, looking absolutely stricken she'd forgotten about her poor Jeikie-boo-baby. "Let's go, all of us."

"Don't go with her, Jeikeh." warned Bluebell-Rose, like she was a mother with a teenage child who was threatening to move in with the "love of their life" at 14. "Jock's your best friend, she's just a boring bitch who can't get laid!"

Jeikeh's forehead wrinkled. He honestly didn't know what to do. "I'm gonna go anyway." he said, meaning he was going home to his Playstation and central heating, but Mexico thought he meant he was coming with her, and her heart skipped a beat.

Jock laughed. "Losers!" he yelled after them. Mexico ignored this but Barbara-Ann turned around and gave him the finger.

"Oh my god, look at them go." Bluebell sneered loudly in a high-pitched tone, and again some students in the crowd covered their ears. She threw her head back and laughed, an awful piercing noise.

"EVERYONE EUT, FAIRE ALARM!" Matvei shouted, waving his broomstick as he churned through the hordes of students slowly dispersing now that the show was over. "Not safe, not safe! We need evacuate."

A/N

We're almost at 300 reads guys! This is awesome considering the story's only been up a couple of days.

What do you think of Jeikeh and Jock, the new characters in this chapter?

This chapter is dedicated to Lucy for being fabulous and for being someone that I would totally  write another book with.

~Eva (@positiveenergies )