The Fall

One

The rules of the flag game were incredibly simple.

1. Upon entering the bus, inform the rest of the players how many Confederate flags 
you expect to see for the remainder of the trip.

2. Count them for the entire ride, making sure to look for flags on windows and the backs of trucks. An inaccurate count is your own fault.

3. For every flag your estimate was off by at the conclusion of the bus ride, you must pay the other players ten cents. For example, if you predicted seven flags and five were seen, you have to give everyone else twenty cents. (There is no payment difference between an estimate that was too high and one that was too low).

Lena came up with it in seventh grade, and it was how we entertained ourselves while riding to school ever since. I mean, what else were we supposed to do on a forty minute bus ride through rural West Virginia? You'd think that staying loyal to the Union would be something to be proud of, but the entire state seemed to wish for the South to rise again despite the fact that they weren't even part of it. It was one of the things I hated about living in Fairview, West Virginia- the utter refusal to accept that it was 2014 and we needed to wake up, get acquainted with this whole newfangled diversity thing.

"Hey, how many do we have so far?" I asked, sliding into Lena's seat. There were four of us in in the game: Lena, Ashley, Faith, and myself. We were kind of our own little counter-insurgency, banded together by our passionate hatred of neo-Confederates; that, however, was the only thing we had in common. I was definetly closest with Lena, the half-Chinese social justice warrior of the group- contrast this with Ashley, a diehard yet sane Republican who wore a cross around her neck and was constantly chiding the rest of us for taking God's name in vain.

"Four, but I think we're going a little bit into Calhoun so y'all might want to up your guesses," said Faith.

Calhoun County, allegedly the root of all evil: even our racists thought people who lived there were racist. That's really what West Virginia was, come to think of it- a million little towns and areas that thought they were better than all the other identical places despite zero evidence.

"Okay...I'm betting we'll see about four more, then." I announced, digging through my backpack for my stash of dimes.

We drove onto a large, isolated hill with nothing but a trailer park below it. I was terrified of learning how to drive around here, even though I wouldn't be fifteen for a few months. How did the cars not fall off the edges of the mountains? The badly paved road bounced us along, and I gripped the edges of my seat.

Lena laughed, shaking her head of thick black hair. "Kace, you were born and raised here for fourteen years, and the hills still freak you out?"

"Yes, actually," I said, petulantly.

But I had to admit, the hills were beautiful from this height- shades of kelly green, masked by thick fog under overcast skies. Things here weren't all bad, I knew that. It just made me sad to think about how the reputation of such a gorgeous state was so poisoned by its residents.

Ashley pointed at a passing truck. "There's number five."

Lena made another tally mark in pencil eraser on the back of the seat in front of us- it helped us keep track of the flags, and at the end of the ride, we could just wipe off the pink marks with no effort at all. The guys in front didn't even know we were doing it.

As we came down from the hill and entered a familiar, up-a-holler no man's land, Lena began to to interrogate me out of the blue, or at least that's what it felt like. I didn't know why I was so defensive about Ryder, but her innocent questions made me weirdly anxious. I wanted to protect him, that was it- I knew that if he did start something with me, he would be judged by everyone I knew.

"Hey, who was that guy you were talking to yesterday? You know, while we were waiting for the bus home? You seemed kind of scared of him."

It wasn't like we were dating, and he hadn't really hurt me in any significant way. He just freaked me out, despite his attractiveness. But I didn't know how to explain it; everyone thought I should ethier be cowering in fear from Ryder or want to marry him. But honestly? I was somewhere in between. Attracted, but a little scared.

"Oh, he was just this weird guy I know from church. I think he has a crush on me or something."

Lena gave me a look that said she knew I was lying and raised her eyebrows.

"You know, my dad owns the gun shop down in Sandon. I could easily get him to kick someone's ass if you need it," offered Ashley.

"Relax, guys. It's cool. I'll tell you if he does anything creepy."

"Like randomly cornering you while you were standing there minding your own business and asking to be your boyfriend? Kacey, I saw everything. I was just trying to see if you'd open up on your own."

"I mean, that was a little strange, but...Lena, stop being paranoid. Not every guy is a rapist, okay?"

"I never said he was, Kace. He just rubbed me the wrong way."

--Kacey, regretfully.