Author's Note: 4WD = four-wheel drive, which is…oh what do the Americans call them? SUVs, I think. And please, don't hesitate to tell me if you think the characters are too OOC, or if any chapter is coming across as being lazily or hastily written. I guess I'm biased, though. My favourite characters are Claire and John, so, if I had it my way, the entire fic would be just about them. Oh well. This fic is about everyone, after all, to an equal degree. Please read and review!
For all other author's notes and the disclaimer see
Chapter One. Please read them before reading the fic. Thanks. Send feedback to
nova_mist@yahoo.com Please read and review.
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The Altered View
Monday Can Bring
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March 26th,
1984
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Chapter Four – Andrew's Brilliant Career
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Andrew Clark had a wrestling meet on Sunday. He also had
one the following Saturday. The meet he went to on Sunday was one that Andy was
not informed he was going to until twelve hours before the event. His father
had once again taken Andy's life into his own hands and melded it to suit him
without consulting Andy first. Not that Andy had minded too much. With the
party at Stubby's place being postponed for a month because of Stubby's parents
being back temporarily, he had nothing better to do. So Andy had gone to the
wrestling meet. He had gone. He had competed. He had kicked that other guy's
arse. He had gone home, trophy in hand, wanting to do nothing but fall into bed
and sleep, never mind that it was only 4:30 in the afternoon. Andy was tired.
He needed to sleep. He needed to unwind. Normally, wrestling did that for him,
to a certain degree. The joy of winning so that his father, Phillip Clark,
would look at his son with pride in his eyes.
But none of that mattered to Andy anymore. Not as much,
anyway. His Saturday detention with a brain, a Princess, a criminal and a
basket-case…it had opened his eyes. It had brought him back to reality. Winning
was good, a great feeling, but it wasn't everything. And it had taken Allison
Reynolds, the resident basket-case, to show him that.
Allison wasn't like a lot of the other girls Andy knew.
She wasn't a suck-up, or a geek, or a spoilt brat.
She was amazing. Even before Claire had given Allison a
makeover, which had revealed her face, Andy had thought she was pretty. He
didn't care what she looked like. He liked her as a person, and what she looked
like physically didn't matter.
But will she want to know me? Andy
asked himself. It's not as if she's one of those people trying to climb the
social ladder by latching onto a member of the so-called in-crowd. Andy
mused. But would be worse is if I fuck this up. Like Claire said, what if I
just blow Allison off? She wouldn't want to know me. She'd hate me. Would I actually
be strong enough to stand up to my friends if they gave me shit over it? I'm
not really that strong of a person…they've made me cave in before, they can do
it again. Andy closed his eyes briefly. Please, God, don't let me fuck
this up. Let me have the strength to stand up to my friends if they're being
arseholes like usual. Please, don't let me fuck this up. Andy prayed. If
Allison cares enough to open my eyes to my attitude about winning, surely she
cares enough to at least be my friend.
But even though Andy's attitude to winning had changed, it
appeared that his father's hadn't.
"All I'm saying, Andy, is that you really do need to work
on your attitude." Phillip said to his son as he pulled the family 4WD into the
Shermer High School parking lot. "On Sunday at that meet, you just weren't
focusing. Your performance was rather lacklustre, if you ask me."
"Yeah, well, I didn't ask you, did I?" Andy muttered,
becoming more and more aggravated by the second.
Phillip didn't hear his son's comment, and went on. "If
you keep this attitude up, and you compete, you'll start losing matches and-"
"I won on Sunday, didn't I?" Andy cut in sharply.
"Yes, but if you keep this up, you'll start losing. And
that would bring disgrace to this family, Andy. This is a family of winners.
You have to win, Andy. You have to win and-"
"Is that all that matters to you?!" Andy exploded. "That I win? 'Win, Andy, win!' you tell me. Never mind what I want! Well, Dad, I won! I got another fucking trophy for you to show off to everyone!" Andy spat, sliding out of the car. He held the door open for a moment, while Phillip looked at his son, dumbfounded. "So just get the fuck off my back!" Andy yelled, slamming the car door behind him. There were a number of people staring at Andy due to his outburst at his father. "What the fuck are you all looking at?!" he snapped. They all looked away.
Andy stomped across the car park without looking back, but feeling incredibly relieved when he heard his father's car pull out of the car park and back out onto the road. He was so wrapped up in his own problems he couldn't see anything that was going on around him. Storming up the stairs, Andy entered the main hallway, only to see some of his fellow jocks milling around. They hadn't seen Andy yet, and he wanted to keep it that way. He lost himself in the crowd, and walked quickly to the first intersection in the hallway, jumping in quickly to avoid being seen by-
"AHH!"
Andy was knocked off balance due to the fact that he had bumped into someone, knocking their books out of their hands. "Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to-" Andy's voice died in his throat as he looked up to see who he had bumped into. "Allison!" Andy squeaked. He cleared his throat. "Ummm, hi." He said awkwardly, bending down to pick up Allison's books.
Allison smiled shyly. "Hi, Andy." She said, just as awkward as Andy was. "Thank you." Allison said, as Andy gave her books back to her.
"Ummm, would like to come to my locker with me?" Andy asked, then mentally slapped himself. What a stupid question to ask a girl! "Would you like to come to my locker with me?" Jesus, Clark, you're losing your touch.
So Andy surprised when Allison smiled and him and nodded. "I'd love to."
And they walked down the hall together.