The Other Side of Nowhere by Stephen Johnston Page B

boulder, the wind ruffling his hair as he took in the sweeping views of the coastline.
    I slumped down next to him. I was tired, sore and sick of walking aimlessly in search of Nick. Bugger him , I thought. Why couldn’t we just stay put and wait for him to come back? Instead, we were stuck up here, miles from camp, getting fried by the sun and torn to pieces by the scrub.
    Matt passed the bottle of water and I took a long swig before passing it to George. By the time we’d all had a drink, there was hardly any left. It would be empty long before we got back to camp.
    ‘This is totally pointless,’ I announced. ‘Let’s go back.’
    ‘But we’ve come this far. We may as well keep going a bit further,’ said George.
    ‘Are you serious?’ I said in disbelief. ‘No way! What if he’s not on the next beach? Or the next? We could do a tour of the whole island and still never find him.’
    ‘I’ll go,’ Matt suggested. ‘You guys wait here.’
    ‘Matt, how dumb are you?’ I shouted. ‘We stick together. Not sticking together is what got us here in the first place.’
    ‘What if I don’t want to stick with you?’
    ‘Tough!’
    ‘Get stuffed, Johnno,’ he said and started up the path.
    Furious, I ran to stop him, grabbing his shirt. I tugged hard and it ripped.
    ‘Now look what you’ve done,’ he shouted, walking off angrily.
    I growled. I was sick of him, sick of everything. Instead of grabbing him again, I ran up and pushed him hard in the chest. ‘Go on then, get stuffed. Do what you want. But I’m going back.’
    I turned away and started back down the path, seething at the world. Mostly though, it was Nick who was fuelling my anger. It was his fault we’d come on this wild goose chase. I was going back to camp and no matter what anyone said or did, I wasn’t going to leave there again until someone came to get us.
    And that’s exactly what I would have done if something near the cliff edge hadn’t caught my eye. It was something so commonplace that at first it didn’t register. But then I realised its normalness was what made it so unusual.
    ‘Hey! Hey ! Come check this out.’
    George ran over, and Matt followed, our argument momentarily forgotten. They stood behind me as I knelt down and picked up a half-finished cigarette squashed flat in the mud.
    ‘What?’ said Matt peering over my shoulder.
    ‘What do you mean, “what”? Look, you moron. It’s a cigarette butt.’
    Matt looked at what I was holding and then snorted, giving me his best you’re the moron look. ‘So?’ he said.
    ‘So, there was someone up here yesterday.’
    Matt laughed and rolled his eyes. ‘Good one, Sherlock.’
    ‘Matt! It’s a fresh cigarette butt.’
    ‘Matt, it’s a fresh cigarette butt,’ he parroted in a whiny voice. ‘How d’you know that it’s fresh?’
    George leant in to take a closer look. ‘You’re making it out to be, I don’t know, suspicious,’ she said. ‘So what if someone was here yesterday? Isn’t that a good thing? I mean, maybe they can help us.’
    ‘Then why didn’t they?’ I snapped. It was bad enough having to put up with Matt’s stupidity. I couldn’t believe George wasn’t getting it either. ‘You don’t think it’s weird someone would watch us with The Dolphin , and not do anything?’
    She stood up and shrugged. ‘I don’t know … Maybe The Dolphin had sunk by the time they arrived. Maybe they didn’t realise we needed help. Maybe – ’
    ‘Maybe Johnno’s just panicking over nothing,’ finished Matt. ‘Gee, what a surprise!’
    ‘I’m not panicking,’ I shot back. ‘I just think –’
    ‘Yeah, that’s your problem,’ Matt interrupted. ‘You think too much.’
    ‘Better than not thinking at all,’ I growled.
    ‘Oh, just shut up, you two,’ yelled George, stepping between us. She looked fed up. ‘None of this is helping to find Nick. C’mon. We’ve come this far … let’s just keep going for a bit. Johnno, I promise, if we don’t