The Other Side of Nowhere by Stephen Johnston

know? No-one except Nick’s dad knows we’re here.’
    ‘I get it, George,’ I said, quietly. But I was starting to feel resentful. We’d been so close to being okay at dinner, just for a moment. But she just had to push too hard and now everything was broken again. ‘But there’s no point in badgering him …’
    ‘I wasn’t badgering,’ she pleaded.
    ‘Just let it go, George,’ I said firmly.
    ‘No, I won’t let it go,’ George said, firing up again. ‘And neither should you. Can’t you see? God, Johnno. Just because he doesn’t ask for it in one-syllable words doesn’t mean he’s not begging for help.’
    Frowning, I slumped to the ground. ‘George, please. I’m too tired to figure out what that even means,’ I said with a groan. ‘Look, I’m sure his dad will be here in the morning. Just get some sleep, okay? And tomorrow we can get away from this crap-hole of a place.’
    ‘Fine,’ she said in a fierce low tone. ‘Let’s all just go home and pretend nothing ever happened.’

In the morning Nick was still gone. None of us could recall seeing or hearing him come back to camp, and there was no indication he had, either. We went to check the beach with no luck.
    Not quite knowing what to do with ourselves, we scanned the ocean and the sky hopefully for a while, looking for rescue boats or planes, but there was nothing. Two nights and still no sign of help.
    I picked up a stick and flung it into the sea. ‘This is freakin’ unbelievable,’ I muttered. ‘Someone’s gotta be out looking for us.’
    ‘Maybe he went back to The Dolphin ,’ said George, seemingly oblivious to what I’d said.
    ‘But it sank,’ said Matt.
    ‘Maybe he went to see if anything else got washed up,’ George said, shrugging.
    ‘Well, he’ll come back when he’s good and ready. I’m not walking all the way down there again,’ I announced, slumping onto the sand as if to show how immovable I was on the subject.
    ‘But what if something’s happened to him?’ said George, chewing on her fingernail. ‘It’s my fault – he wouldn’t have stormed off if I hadn’t stuck my nose in,’
    ‘I’m hungry,’ moaned Matt, rubbing his stomach.
    ‘Shut up Matt. As if you’re the only one who’s hungry,’ I snapped.
    ‘I’m going to have a look on the other side of the rocks,’ said George. ‘I’ll be back soon.’
    ‘George,’ I groaned. ‘It’s going to be about a million degrees again today. Just sit in the shade and wait for help. Nick’s just being Nick. He’ll be back soon. All right?’
    But it was written all over her face that she wasn’t going to be satisfied until she knew he was safe. ‘Just to the rocks, that’s all,’ she said. ‘I just want to check the next beach.’
    As if. There was no way George would stop at the rocks. If she didn’t find Nick there, she would just keep going until she did. It was obvious she was desperate to find him. Sure, she was feeling guilty for making him crack it and walk off, but I felt sure that she wouldn’t be so hell-bent on finding him if there wasn’t more to it than that.
    I wondered: If it were Matt or me who’d gone walkabout, would she be this worried?
    ‘Okay,’ I said, standing up. ‘But you’re not going on your own. So let’s eat something first, all right?’
    Surprisingly, she agreed and we headed back to camp. We filled the empty Gatorade bottle with water and shared half of the last banana and the tin of peaches, leaving the last couple in their syrup for Nick. All we had left was the half-jar of peanut butter and maybe a third of the container of water. No-one said it, but I bet we were all thinking the same thing: Today would be a good day to get rescued .
    We trudged slowly around to the spot where the yacht had sunk. The sun was getting high in the sky and the sand burnt my bare feet. Hundreds of flies buzzed around my scratches and cuts, which were mostly scabbed over, although a few of the deeper ones oozed gross