The Schoolyard

Ravi takes her to the end of the field, away from the building, next to the bus loading zone. She stops at a rock, next to some bushes.

Jessica
Yeah, it's a... rock.

Ravi
Watch.

Ravi slides the rock, and a single wasp crawls out. She slides the rock back. Jessica recoils, but Ravi puts her arm out. It lands on the back of her hand, and she pets it with her finger.

Jessica
What the...

Ravi
They're really nice, but only to people without rage in their hearts. Or bellies! Those count too.

Ravi takes an orange out of her pocket, and hands it to Jessica. Jessica stares back.

Ravi
Carefully peel it, and crush it a little so the wedges are popped and leaking. Then put it next to the hole.

Jessica does so, and Ravi puts the lone wasp down next to the orange. It crawls all over the fruit, wiggling its little legs and mandibles.

Jessica
Whoah...

Ravi slides the stone again, and drops the orange inside, wasp and all. Then she covers the nest again.

Jessica
That was so cool! You're like... the wasp whisperer. The wasperer!

Ravi

(Darkly.) Haha... sometimes they bite my enemies.

Jessica
(Sadly.) Wow. I wish they'd bite Thor.

Ravi
Yeah, he bragged about his reasons for breaking it off. Thinks you put a 'hex' on him. I think he just has no personal hygiene.

Jessica gives a look of distrust... she looks like she's calculating her odds, now. Why is this person friends with her ex, exactly? Ravi can see ghostly trails of light, drawing mathematical formula around her head. Then her ghost, a white silhouette with black eyes, muddles the board so nobody else can see her work. Slides her hand oh so delicately through them, those numbers, to make sure their meanings can't be read – shuffled as a deck of cards. Yet strings between them, tied through punched holes, showing their place in a logical progression. Like a wire circuit. And they fade again.

Jessica
(Put-off.) Oh, wow. He's even dumber than I thought.

Ravi
(Self-conscious.) I wasn't looking forward to hanging out with him later.

Jessica
What's later?

Ravi
The Halloween party.

Jessica
Why are you going over if you don't like him?

Ravi
I don't HATE him, I'm just...

Ravi looks at Jessica, and decides to take a gamble.

Ravi
(Breaking it gently.) I was trying to get him to spend a night with me, honestly. I'm into both guys and girls. But whatever he's got going on in there, he's not looking to share it with guys right now... and he sees me as one, for the most part.

Jessica grits her teeth. She looks like she's getting that 'just under the ribs' kind of pain, and Ravi feels it just as brash in her own. Like a mirror.

Jessica
(Obviously hurt.) Oh, that... sucks.

Ravi
(Sweating, arm over her guts.) But, hey, at least I'm not the jealous type, right? I'm not gonna be upset with a girl for liking guys. I mean, especially not if I can agree on why they're hot.

Ravi starts to second-guess. Jessica seems less and less impressed with each thing she has to say. Ravi can't tell if anyone's feelings are genuine, anyway, not when they seem to change so rapidly. Not when she isn't sure if they're looking at her, or her mom, or her dad... who pretty much got the same kind of attention. She just switches hats from 'friendly crush' to 'gay best friend', hoping to cover all her bases. If Ravi has misinterpreted yet again, it'd just be one more humiliation under her belt. Jessica seems to be treating her like a person, instead of a nuisance, for the first time. Whatever magic makes this work, Ravi's not looking to jynx it.

Jessica
(Crossing her arms.) That... yeah. I guess.

Ravi
You must have had your reasons for liking him, right?

Jessica
(A little pained.) I was rushed into a relationship with Thor because my parents thought he was "mountable". I just thought he was funny, and strong, but I guess I let them get to me, cause before I knew it, we were talking about marriage.

Ravi
Yikes. Was the wedding, like, soon?

Jessica
It was down the line, for sure. But he called me a "psycho" out of nowhere, so... we broke up. I'm just trying something out, I'm not even like... really all that into magic in the first place. He has his ranch, I'm just... looking for my thing.

Ravi
(Silently grimacing.) ...

Jessica
(Searching Ravi's face.) ...?

Ravi
(Relenting.) ...yes. That is the reason Thor didn't...

Ravi has been stomping on this tightrope already, and now she's about to dance on it wearing cleats.

Ravi
...uh. Actually, no. I'm not gonna stick up for him. He said you wouldn't "put out".

Jessica
He...

Ravi considers using the recording device to show evidence, but realizes that without permission, the conversation should never have been recorded in the first place. Jessica is silent, until...

Jessica
(Enraged.) HE WHAT?!

Ravi starts to panic as Jessica paces back and forth, arms crossed, tapping her chin.

Ravi
Hey, I mean, it's not that big a deal, right? Lots of people expect sex in a relationship. It doesn't mean they're right-

Jessica
(Freaking out.) YEAH, SO WHY WOULD YOU BREAK UP WITH SOMEONE JUST BECAUSE THEY DON'T DO IT WITH YOU?! DOESN'T THAT KIND OF DEFEAT THE FUCKING POINT?!

Ravi
(Eyes wide, mouth pursed.) Yeah, I uh, I don't-

Jessica
I was just WAITING for him to MAKE A FUCKING MOVE!! WHAT THE FUCK IS HIS PROBLEM?! EVERY GUY IS THE SAME, I SWEAR TO GOD! THEY ALL TRY TO RIZZ YOU UP AND MAKE YOU SWEAR UP AND DOWN THEY'RE THE ONLY GUY YOU CARE ABOUT, AND THEN THE SECOND YOU TOUCH THEM FOR TOO LONG OR CARE TOO MUCH, THEY JUST CALL YOU A WHORE OR A NAG AND DUMP YOU ON THE FREAKING GROUND!! JUST A BUNCH OF SCARED, FACELESS PUSSIES!!

Ravi stares in front of herself, starting to dissociate. She doesn't have all the answers to this one.

Jessica
At LEAST when you find a DOUCHEBAG, he goes THROUGH with it! He's not GOOD AT IT, but at LEAST he fucking TRIES!! I'm so SICK of these FAUX-SENSITIVE TURDS!! THEY'RE ALL, "OOOH I CAN'T DO THAT, I'M TAKING ADVANTAGE!"

Ravi
(Alarmed and confused.) I'm sorry, have you- have you done this before?

Jessica
(Bewildered, out of it.) No? I don't think so? I mean, like, once, maybe? Twice? I was a little fucked-up at the time, I'm not sure.

That's probably why they thought they were taking advantage. Jessica paces back and forth, kicking the dirt up so hard that the turf comes loose in chunks. She punches a tree, and shakes her hand, then punches it again with the other one. Ravi begins to understand that Jessica's not a small, dainty princess looking for a handsome prince charming... she's more like the horse he's riding on, jealous he even cares. Even at their last school, she wasn't much of a princess there either – more like an arctic fox that breaks into your house sometimes, to eat all your snacks and scratch at you. She's like some kind of... fox-horse. A fox with hooves? A horse with paws? What the hell would that even look like?

Ravi

(Beginning to realize how in-deep she is.)

Wait, so who-

Jessica

It's just such a BULLSHIT excuse!! He's OBVIOUSLY just changing tracks to AMIRA, she's ALL he could fucking TALK about!! For the last WEEK!! Why can't he just FINISH the fucking JOB with ME, FIRST?!

Ravi
Jessica, we're in the ninth grade, it's not that serious-

Jessica grabs Ravi by the shirt and growls into her face.

Jessica
(Unhinged.) Oh, I'm DEAD serious.

Ravi
(Astonished.) Holy shit, you're no more innocent than I am. You're literally angry at someone for not having sex with you right now.

Jessica lets Ravi go, clasps her hands together, and starts rubbing them almost maniacally. Ravi starts to wonder if enrolling kids in school a year early, way back in the twenty-thirties, was such a good idea after all. Then again, adolescence doesn't pull its punches – this is just how things are. You either plan for it, or spend your whole life fighting it.

Jessica
(Plotting, scheming, underhanding.) I have an idea. Do you know if Thor has any allergies?

Ravi
(The accomplice, apparently.) No, no allergies whatsoever, not to pollen, food, bugs, anything. He said he's "invincible".

Jessica
Good. Let's show him he's not.

Ten Minutes Later...

Ravi and Jessica sit in a bush, across the yard from the stone. Jessica pockets her cellphone.

Jessica
(Glorious with anticipation.) He's coming. I told him to pretend his mom was calling to get out of detention.

Thor bursts out through the doors, into the schoolyard. He looks around, and makes his way to the rock. He looks down at it, and sees the red marks written all over it: "Surprise inside!". Thor lifts up the stone, and throws it across the fence and into the ditch.

Thor
HAHAHA WHOOAH. Too bad nobody saw that.

Then, the wasps come. They crawl out on the ground, then hover, then fly, and swarm and spiral. Thor doesn't react much.

Thor
Oh, whoah. Wasps.

Jessica waits for him to get bit, but it never happens. If anything, he's having fun, jumping over the hole, through the wasps, laughing.

Ravi
I'm not gonna lie, I wanna try that too.

Jessica frowns. Suddenly, the fire bell rings.

Ravi
Must be a fire drill.

As the students and teachers pour outside in lines, they start to notice the wasps, whose swarm has expanded to diffuse across the entire schoolyard. Then, the wasps start biting. Kids start screaming. Jessica and Ravi share a look of panic.

Jessica
Oh...

Ravi
...shit.