Our quiz was a proper success! We raised three hundred quid! Uma Brunton-Fletcher offered to turn it into two grand overnight playing online poker, but we all reckoned it would be a better idea if we gave it to Joshua and he put it into the special Mayflower “Increase the Peace” bank account he set up last week.
Tonight was well funny ’cos loads of us Sixth Formers showed up and some people brought their mums or dads or grans and some people brought their girlfriends or boyfriends we’d never met before and some people brought their friends from other schools and it was a right old mix-up and everyone had a good laugh. Well, I think everyone did, I’m not too sure about Wesley. He didn’t laugh much.
We put Manpreet in charge of questions ’cos he’s a right old Asperger’s case so at least we knew it would get done properly. Then we all got into teams. Me, Carrie, Saf, Wesley, and Joshua were on one team called “The Merklemen.” Nabila Chaalan, Sonia Cathcart, and Danny Braffman who is an Orthodox Jew were on a team called “The Holy Trinity.” Sean and his clubbing mates Gaz and Jean-Paul were called “The Screaming Marys.” I don’t think my Wesley could believe Sean called his team that ’cos he looked a bit shocked but you just have to get used to stuff like that in Sixth Form. We’re all individuals and you gotta live and let live.
“So you’re the famous Wesley Barrington Bains II?” Joshua said to Wesley the second we all sat down.
“Er, yeah, that’s me, innit,” said Wesley.
“I’m Joshua Fallow,” said Josh. “I’ve heard stacks about you.”
Wesley looked at Joshua a bit funny. Wesley probably wasn’t sure whether Josh was taking the piss or not.
To be honest, I’m never proper sure either. And the fact is I don’t talk about Wesley that much at all at school, certainly not around Joshua, so he might’ve been being snarky.
“So, what’s your specialist subject tonight, Wesley?” said Joshua.
“What?” said Wesley.
“What you into?” said Joshua.
“Erm, well, I’m into cars. Pimped cars. Modded cars. Car meets. That sort of thing, innit,” said Wesley.
“Car meets?” said Joshua, sounding like he didn’t know who was taking the mick out of who now.
I looked at them both; Joshua with his cheekbones in his baggy Box Fresh sweatshirt and floppy hair and low-rider cord combat trousers. Wesley in his Nike sweatshirt and Reebok classics and Von Dutch baseball cap. They looked like they were from different flaming planets.
“Yeah, Josh,” said Carrie joining in. “Car meets! You should see Wesley’s car! It’s proper modded out. Glowing wheel arches and everything, hasn’t it? We used to all go down Dagenham cruising in it, didn’t we Wes, when I went out with Bezzie?”
Joshua’s face didn’t change. He didn’t even smirk. But my face was burning up. For a few weird seconds I felt proper silly sitting there wearing my ginormous gold locket and gold bracelet with my boyfriend who goes to car meets. But then I caught hold of my head and thought, “No, that’s who I am! I’m only keeping it real.”
Wesley drove me home afterward. I asked him if he had a good time and he said it was OK, but he felt a bit thick ’cos even though The Merklemen won he didn’t answer no questions. Wes said everyone was nice enough though, even though a few of them were a bit up themselves. I asked him who and he said “that Joshua.” He says Joshua was OK and all that but he’s just one of them rich kids who think they’re it. Wesley says he can’t stand folk like that.
“Yeah,” I said. “Me neither.”