Not What It Seems

NOT WHAT IT SEEMS1

This Geography field trip was turning out to be a disaster! As usual,2

because Andrew Holt's name came after Heather Holsworth's in the class3

register, she was stuck with him as her partner. She might as well be4

working on her own.5

"The work you do today will affect your overall grade. I want both6

partners to contribute or else I'll fail you both. And this means you Mr.7

Holt!" Mr. Barker shouted, like an army sergeant does to his troops before battle. Andrew and Heather groaned.8

"Oh dear. Looks like a fail for you." Heather's best friend Kara patted9

her sympathetically on the shoulder.10

"Gee thanks," Heather rolled her eyes and walked over to Andrew who was11

sprawled across a large rock by the river. He was dressed in his usual12

black biker attire, complete with chains and spikes and of course, the13

trademark green hair. She reluctantly approached him.14

"Um. shall we go and find a spot along the river to start our project?"15

She asked him, hesitantly. Andrew snickered to his friends.16

"Yeah OK, you just go and do that while I wait right here," he sneered.17

"But Mr. Barker said that it's supposed to be a joint effort." Heather18

protested.19

"But Mr. Barker said." Andrew mimicked her, "whatever."20

Heather stomped off and found an isolated spot along the river.21

"What a retard." She mumbled to herself, "it's so unfair! Why should I22

fail Geography because of him?"23

On numerous occasions she had complained to Mr. Barker about her Geography partner but he always fobbed her off.24

The project aim was to observe the flow of the river. Heather didn't have25

a clue as to how she was going to manage this on her own. There had to be26

two people; one to place an orange in the water at a certain point and one to time how long it took to get to the other side and to catch it. Sighing, Heather waded into the river, attempting to do the best that she could.27

"And where is Mr. Holt?" Mr. Barker's voice boomed behind her.28

"Er. Sir, he's being uncooperative and I really don't get on well with him anyway."29

"Are we in primary school? Can we not act more like adults and stop this30

childish behaviour and work together?"31

Heather frowned. She was becoming tired of Mr. Barker's incredibly32

patronising tone. He abruptly left her alone and then shortly returned with a very grumpy Andrew.33

"Now come on, work, work, work!" Mr. Barker clapped his hands and moved on to the next group. Andrew stuck his middle finger up at him and then made a gun motion with his hands.34

"BANG!" He laughed evilly, "Alright. he's gone. See ya later babe, I'm due for a smoke." And with that Andrew advanced into the nearby woods. Heather clasped her head into her hands in despair.35

"Kara!" She called to her friend, "can you just please watch my things. I36

have to go and find Andrew." 37

Kara nodded sympathetically as Heather followed Andrew further and further into the woods. She saw him light up a cigarette in the distance and put it to his lips.38

"Hey!" Heather shouted, "look, I really don't want to fail and I think39

that you could do without another failed subject."40

Andrew smirked and blew smoke into Heather's face. 'What a caveman', she41

thought, disgusted, 'geez. A chimp has more sense than this guy.' Heather42

bit her lip, "oookay, let's start again."43

"Look Miss Goody-Two-Shoes, stop your preachin' and go back to your books. I ain't interested."44

"I'm not gonna go until you get off of your lazy ass and do some god damn45

work!" Heather put her foot down. Andrew looked on in shock, he never expected quiet, meek Heather Holsworth to have an outburst like that. Growing angry, he shoved past her, striding off into the opposite direction.46

Persistently she followed him, unwilling to let him get away with it this47

time. At first it was just about her Geography grades but now it was48

personal. Andrew spun around and glared at her.49

"What do you want from me woman?" He threw his cigarette to the floor and50

crushed it with his black, spiked boots, "And while you're telling me that,can you also tell me how the hell we get outta here?"51

Heather looked around and suddenly realised that she no longer recognised52

this part of the woods.53

"Good point. Where are we?" She said, slightly afraid.54

"D'uh, if I knew then wouldn't we be back with the other's by now," he55

mumbled, "This is all your fault! You couldn't just leave me alone could56

you?"57

"It's not my fault that you're so dumb!" Heather retorted, hands on her58

hips.59

"I was doin' fine by myself. But you had to come along being teacher's pet and now you've got us lost!"60

"I'VE got YOU lost?!?" She blinked in disbelief at the sheer arrogance of61

this guy.62

"Yeah well, it ain't gonna help us just standing around talking about63

this. Here, let a man handle this. I'll find the way out." Andrew marched64

forwards, leaving a stunned Heather to reluctantly follow.65

After a while Heather began to notice that the canopy of trees above them66

was becoming thicker and it was becoming darker and darker in the woods.67

"Um, HELLO. Don't you think that we're going the wrong way?" She tapped68

Andrew on the shoulder.69

"Did I ask for your opinion?" He spat back.70

"I'm pretty sure that this isn't the way out. Look, we must be going71

deeper into the woods. The trees are thicker."72

"Says who?"73

"Says me," She stopped and frowned, "why don't you just try using those74

little brain cells that you have left for once in your life and take my75

advice." Heather turned and began to walk in another direction.76

"Hey. Hey. Where are you goin'? No way am I trustin' a girl to get me out77

of here."78

"Fine. Stay here and get even more lost," Heather shrugged. Andrew finally quit his moaning and this time she took the lead.79

After about an hour of walking they stopped for a break. Andrew sat down80

on a nearby rock and lit another cigarette. He offered one to Heather but81

she shook her head.82

"Those things will kill you," She sniffed.83

"Really?" Andrew said in mock surprise, "thanks for the info."84

"No problem," she replied sarcastically.85

"Geez. are we in some deep shit or what when we get back," Andrew grinned, changing the subject.86

"Yeah I can just imagine Mr. Barker's face going all red and puffy - the87

way it does when he gets angry."88

"And then he'll go 'Mr. Holt, Miss. Holsworth, where the devil have you89

been? How dare you disobey school rules!'" Andrew impersonated their90

teacher, "then he'll give us a weeks detention no doubt."91

"Oh no," Heather looked mortified, "I've never been in detention before!"92

"Welcome to my world," Andrew smiled and stood up. Heather noted that he93

actually had quite a nice smile.94

"Hey what's that noise?" Andrew strained his ears. Heather listened in95

silence. There was a trickling of water in the distance.96

"The river!" She cried.97

"So what? It doesn't mean that it's the exact spot where our Geography98

group are."99

"Okay, if you actually did you homework and studied the map then you'd100

find that there is only one river in this area. Therefore, if we follow the river south then we should eventually reach our class or the main road. Either way, we're out of here," Heather said smugly.101

"Well Brains, let's get a move on then because the faster we get out of102

here, the faster I get away from you!"103

"I second that," Heather glared.104

The two of them then began to walk towards the sounds of the water.105

Heather stopped at the top of a steep hill.106

"What are you waiting for?" Andrew frowned, edging down the hill. Slowly,107

Heather side stepped down. All of a sudden she slipped on a patch of mud108

and caught her ankle on a rock.109

"You OK?" Andrew called back to her.110

"I'm fine," She said, not wanting to show weakness to him. But she wasn't111

fine. Her ankle had been badly scraped and blood began to surround her112

wound. Heather also feared that her ankle was twisted. Grabbing hold of113

various branches she began to carry on.114

" I haven't got all day!" Andrew yelled, now at the bottom of the hill,115

"hey, are you sure you're alright? You've got a pretty bad limp there."116

"I'm FINE!" She shouted back through clenched teeth.117

"Whoa, I was only asking. No need to be so moody - careful!" Andrew118

watched as Heather slipped again. He climbed back up the hill and steadied her.119

"That's a nasty cut." he noticed and wrapped his arm around her shoulders.120

"I don't need your help," she attempted to shake him off.121

"No offence but you weren't exactly making great progress on your own," he supported her as they went back down the hill.122

"Thank you," she mumbled, giving in.123

They walked in complete silence for a while but then things changed.124

Slowly, Heather and Andrew began to talk to each other like normal human125

beings. 'Almost like we're.friends', Heather thought. Surprisingly, she126

discovered that she had quite a lot in common with her worst enemy. They127

both liked the same films, particularly horror and had similar tastes in128

music, although she didn't approve of his thrash metal bands. They also129

both played the guitar and had annoying little brothers. Heather actually130

found Andrew to be an interesting guy to talk to. In addition, Andrew was131

astonished to find out that Heather was much more then the studious132

bookworm that he had thought her to be.133

After much walking and talking, they had made their way along the river134

and eventually reached their group. As expected, Mr. Barker was furious and yes, his face did go all puffy and red and yes, they did get a weeks135

detention. Although Heather didn't mind spending a week in detention with136

Andrew. As Mr. Barker then patched up Heather's leg, she watched with137

disappointment as Andrew went back over to his friends who were lay on the grass. 'Nothing's changed'. She thought, sadly.138

Minutes later, Heather sat by the river's edge, relieved to be out of the139

woods. However, she also felt like something was missing.140

"Need any help?" Andrew stood behind her.141

"You're going to help me? Me, the swot, the brain box?" Heather laughed.142

"Look, I'm offering. but don't mention it to them, okay," Andrew motioned143

towards his friends.144

"Don't worry. it's safe with me," Heather smiled, pleasantly surprised.145

"Alright what do you want me to do? You're the boss," He grinned. Heather146

instructed him on the basics of what their project involved and they got to work.147

"Well I never." Mr. Barker said to his student, Kara, "Mr. Holt and Miss.148

Holsworth. working together?"149

"Very strange, sir." Kara agreed, watching the pair of figures in the150

river.151

"Hey.um. when this is finished, do you...er... wanna come to my house and we can type up the results?" Andrew asked, uncertainly looking into her eyes.152

"I'd like that," Heather smiled back at him. And at that moment, standing153

in the middle of the river, she realised that something special had taken154

place.155