Things had been tense for weeks at school, they made sure they never went anywhere alone, Tanya always seemed to be around a corner, ready to make a snide insulting comment. There were no more physical altercations, at least no more than the odd 'accidental' collision in the corridor.

Today however there was snow on the ground. It seemed like every time they went outside a snowball hit someone in the face or the back of the head. They were convinced it was Tanya or her hangers on but every time they looked there was no obvious culprit.

There was slush and water over every corridor, the girls were being exceptionally careful making sure they weren't pushed on steps knowing it would be easy to pass off as a slip.

Tanya was unusually snide today, comments like ‘Look at the lesians all cuddling up for warmth.’ and when they were at lunch with the boys ‘I thought you muffers were all man haters, I guess some of you are just bored of bumping donuts.’

It was starting to get old.

It was freezing cold in the PE class, Jo wasn’t sure they even had heaters in the massive gymnasium. She was doing her best to warm up by exercising but the class today was all about muscle groups and targeted exercise so there was a lot of talking and not a huge amount of doing. The teacher was using a small fibreglass dummy with no skin to point out individual muscles and then they were doing a round of whichever exercise worked that muscle, then the teacher would go around and correct people's posture and discuss why that person was not working the correct muscle. In hindsight, Jo probably would not have taken higher PE had she known it was mainly sports science and very little sport.

She did actually get a lot out of the lessons, nothing she would use in a career but it honestly helped immensely in her bodybuilding routines.

Seeing the plumes of vapour infront of peoples faces the teacher felt sorry for them and sent them off around the outside of the gym with the instruction to do high steps, focusing on the stretch of the hamstrings and pointing the foot to stretch the calf.

On the third and last lap of the building Jo was fairly far in front of the group, as she came around the last corner Tanya was standing with a number of her friends. “She even prances like a poof!” she called.

Jo had had enough, she stopped high stepping and walked right up to Tanya, through her gaggle of friends, only stopping when their noses were almost six inches apart. “What the fuck is your problem with me? Is it just homophobia or do you actually have some kind of beef that you need to get off your chest?”

By this time the rest of the class had caught up and there was quite a crowd.

“I just dont like you and your queer freak friends.” Tanya spat.

“So it's just that you’re a homophobic bigot? Really? Because, you know that's not going to stand you well in life.” Jo clenched her fist, really wanting to punch the living daylights out of her but instead turned and stalked off.

Tanya called after her, “Yeah, walk away you faggot pussy.” Jo’s walk slowed and she had to will herself to unclench her fists. Shaking her head she flipped her the bird and continued on to the gym where she reported the encounter to the teacher.