Sleeping on the Floor

6. My Man

"In light of recent events, we find it most fitting for a fire drill and Fire Safety Education Day to take place..."

Joseph Mason looks directly at me and laughs out loud. "Yeah Mendel! Thanks for the day off." 

There are cheers around the class and I can feel the blood rush to my cheeks. 

"...please note you are still required to wear full school uniform on Friday when the drills take place. That's all." 

I hate history. Running on 4 hours of sleep, no coffee and getting criticised in fine arts was really the greatest start to my day. Now being called out by Joseph Mason for something I'm already embarrassed about. Wow. 

I sit in the back right corner against the wall corner and Joseph sits right in front on the left. I can see his profile clearly from my seat. His shiny chocolate hair, tanned skin, perfect teeth and blue eyes that all the girls fall for. Ew. I spend most of my lesson throwing looks that could kill, hoping he'll turn and understand how much I can't stand him - not like he already knows. I'm not really one to hate, truth be told, but Joseph and the rest of the Mason family are something else. Joseph is the most stuck-up, arrogant and obnoxious boy in the school and that says a lot considering there are Bloomington Court kids here too. 

He plays lacrosse and tennis and is president of the Student Representatives Board. Overachiever. His dad, Jonathan, is the most full-of-himself man I've met in my life (I honestly think he believes he's God) and Emilia Mason, his mom, is the most whorish woman I know. She's in her late 40s and she probably is loyal but the way she presents herself makes me uncomfortable for her (and embarrassed for Joseph). 

And then there's Layla Bloomington in the back left corner.

I'm going to throw it way back. There's a city and once, there was a war and plenty open space. A few politicians from the city, namely the Bishops and Bloomington families, benefitted from the war and decided to create a peaceful place for rest. Thus, Bishops was created. Bishops broke up into Mendel, Rigby, Johnson and Mason whilst Bloomington remained (we've done some digging and thankfully, none of us are related) 

There was a huge fallout between the Masons and Bloomingtons, of which the Mendels and Rigbys were not involved, and the town split in two - Bishops and Bloomington court. The Johnsons sided with the Bloomingtons and so Bloomington Court's prime families are the Johnsons and Bloomingtons while Bishops has the big three - Mendels, Masons and Rigbys. 

Needless to say that the most known kids in school are: 

Joseph Mason

Layla and Daniel Bloomington

Peter and James Johnson 

Gemma and John Rigby

and myself, Carla Mendel. 

Due to that big fallout back in the day, the Bloomingtons and Masons are like the Montagues and Capulets, they don't associate. At all. The tension between the families is so intense that when my grade moved up from Junior school and Joseph started lacrosse, Daniel (who is a year above us) stopped. 

Daniel Bloomington finished last year and he was like Joseph - loud, out there and very, very popular (especially with the girls). He had the most 'caps' in his Polo team. Each cap was a girl you slept with and trust me, it was a lot. Mostly Bloomington Court girls, of course. 

Layla, on the other hand, is quiet, intelligent and shy. She's a year below us but takes most classes with my grade because she's just that clever. She barely speaks in class and has never even said a word regarding her familial status - pretty rare here. She's also tiny, which makes it pretty easy to miss her if you aren't focusing. Maybe that's how she blends so well. She has the iciest blonde hair, pure and pale skin and eyes bluer than the sky. The only way I know this is because she played chess against me last year during Winters Week (needless to say she won) otherwise, I never would've been close enough to her to see.