Author's Note: okay, you know how I told you I had this story meticulously planned up to chapter seventeen? Well, I did have it planned, and then the chapters decided to take on a mind of their own, and leave the plan completely. Well, okay, not completely, but pretty close to completely. Which is the reason why I don't normally do story plans. Chapter Seven is a prime example of chapters that take on a life of their own. I'm also writing some of these chapters out of order, which is unusual for me. for example, I wrote chapter nine before I wrote chapters three, four, five, seven and eight, and chapter six before chapter nine. Oh well. Enjoy! And please 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 26^th, 1984

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Chapter Eight – Symmetry and Geometry

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Allison bolted down the hallways to maths like the Hounds of Hades were after her. Prick! The fucking prick! she fumed. How dare he think that he is the only person on the planet with problems! Like I don't have problems! I should have known he'd do this! Andrew Clark: Super Jock. Jesus Christ, Ally! she snarled at herself. You should have known better! You know he can't think for himself, so of course he's frigging self-absorbed!

Allison stormed into the classroom, all the way up to the back. She flung her bag down on the seat next to her in the two-seater desk, and glared at anyone who looked her way.

Maybe you were a little hard on him. A small voice in the back of Allison's mind suddenly piped up.

Allison snorted.

He can't help it if he's self-absorbed occasionally. Allison considered, fingering Andy's blue sweatshirt. He is State Wrestling Champion, after all. she thought with a smirk. You just have to help him. All he needs is a friend. An actual friend. Someone to talk to. She mused. She sighed heavily. He tried to apologise, but you cut him off. He meant it.

Allison glared angrily at the wall. Fine, I'll talk to him in English. We have that together. It's next period, too. Shit.

"I can't believe I'm talking to myself!" Allison whispered angrily.

"It's the first sign of madness."

Allison's head snapped up in surprise to see Brian Johnson standing nervously in front of her.

"Um, can I sit here?" Brian asked timidly.

"Uh, sure." Allison said, smiling. She moved her bag off the chair and onto the desk in front of her.

Brian smiled back, and sat down in the newly vacated chair. "So, uh, how was your weekend, Allison?" Brian asked after a moment's hesitation. "Any improvements with your parents?"

Allison smiled slightly. "Actually, yeah." She told him.

"What happened?" he asked.

"Well, I managed to get my father to speak to me this morning." Allison told him.

"Really? How?"

"Well, just before I got out of the car, I said 'Thanks for driving me to school, Daddy.' and he said 'That's alright, have fun at school, sweetheart.'" Allison explained. "He looked really surprised that I was speaking to him at all." She added quietly.

Brian smiled at her. "Well done." He congratulated her.

"Thank you." Allison replied, smiling. Then, her smile fell. "Shit! Brian, did we have any homework?" she asked him.

Brian shook his head. "Uh-uh. We had a sub lat time, remember?"

Allison sighed in relief. "Yeah, yeah. I remember now."

"Allison, is there something wrong?" Brian asked her hesitantly. "You look like you're a million miles away."

Allison smiled at him. "Yeah, sorry, my thoughts are elsewhere." she apologised.

He tilted his head to one side. "Penny for your thoughts?" Then Brian smiled wickedly. "They wouldn't happen to be focused on one Andrew Clark, would they?" he asked her in whisper.

Allison's eyes widened. "Is it that obvious?" she asked him after a moment.

Brain chuckled. "Only slightly." he replied. "So, what's up?" he asked her. "You look a little troubled. Did he do something wrong already?"

Allison looked at him, shocked. "How did you know?"

Brian smiled thinly. "You look hurt."

Allison smiled bitterly. "We had a…misunderstanding…this morning." She admitted, surprised at herself for opening up that easily. But Brian was her friend. He had proved that on Saturday. They all had.

"A misunderstanding?" Brian repeated.

"Uh-huh." Allison confirmed. "It's my fault, really. Andy was being self-absorbed again, thinking that he is the person on the planet with problems, and it just really made me angry."

Brian nodded, understanding. "Well, what type of problems?" he asked slowly. "Insignificant ones that he only thinks are problems, or actual problems?"

"Oh, they are real problems, alright." Allison replied. "Problems with his father. Andy thinks that his father is controlling his life, and he doesn't appreciate being nagged and yelled at all the time. He was acting like it was the biggest problem someone would ever have to face." Allison continued.

Brian raised his eyebrows. "Typical." He said before he could stop himself.

Allison nodded in agreement. "I told him that he should be grateful that his father doesn't beat him, like the father of someone else we know does."

Brian was confused. "Someone else we kn…oh!" It finally occurred to him. He lowered his voice to a whisper. "John?" he asked her.

Allison nodded. "Of course, I don't think it occurred to Prince Andy who I was talking about until I mentioned the cigar burn." She added in a whisper. Then she sighed heavily. "But, you know, I think I was a little hard on him." She told Brian. "I mean, you know, we can all be a little self-absorbed sometimes. I really think that maybe he is just having a bad day. I'm going to speak to him next period about it."

Brian nodded. "Yeah, good idea." Brian assured her. He hesitated. "Maybe you should jus-"

"Everyone get out your books, and open them to page 248."

There was a stifled groan from all twenty-three students in the classroom. Paul Simpson, maths teacher from Hell, had just entered the room.

Mr Simpson's eyes scanned the room. "Right, attendance time." He snapped. "Belinda Ashton?"

"Present, sir."

"Derek Campbell?"

"Yep."

"Oh, Mr Campbell, where exactly is you homework from two weeks ago?" Mr Simpson snapped. "That was a make-up paper of a makeup paper! It was supposed to have been handed to me by Thurs-"

Allison rolled her eyes. This was going to take a while. Mr Simpson always berated at least twelve people during roll call, and today was going to be no exception.

To fill in the time, Allison watched, fascinated, as Brian changed the batteries in his scientific calculator. "That looks expensive." She whispered to him.

Brian grinned at her. "It is, for a calculator. Cutting edge technology, here. My Great Aunt Maude gave me the money for it." He told Allison.

"Jody Hodder?"

"Yes."

"Brian Johnson?"

"Here, sir."

Allison started doodling on the cover of her maths book, which was already half-covered with other such drawings.

"Nice drawings." Brian told her. "Very cubist-like."

Allison blushed. "Thanks," she replied.

"Allison Reynolds?" Mr Simpson snapped.

"Here, sir." Allison replied. "My God, that man is grumpy." Allison muttered to Brian.

"Oh, tell me about it!" Brian agreed. "He yelled at me once for not having my pencil sharp enough." He told her, rolling his eyes.

Allison stifled a giggle. "So, Brian, how was your weekend?" she asked him, averting her attention from watching Mr Simpson yell at Mike Williams for not having his calculator.

Brian smiled slowly. "Well, it didn't get good until last night. Well, actually, it was at 3AM this morning, actually." He told her. "My Great Aunt Maude-"

"The one who gave you the money for your calculator?" Allison cut in.

Brian nodded. "The same." He confirmed, pleasantly surprised that she had remembered. "Anyway, she's sick. Not on her death bed by any means, but ill just the same. Anyway, my father is her favourite nephew, and she's been asking for him. So my Aunt Marge rings up at 3AM and tells Dad that his flight leaves in two hours." Brian explained. "So that gets Dad out of the picture for a week at least. And then, my little sister Gwen, has to be taken to the doctor by my mother really early in the morning, so my friend Jeff Ferguson and his mother, Ann, drove me to school. So I have had an exceptionally good morning."

Allison smiled widely. "Wow, sounds like you've had a really good time of it."

Brian chuckled. "You bet I have." He told her.

"Asher Zhang?" Mr Simpson barked.

"Yes, sir. Here, sir." Asher responded.

"Right." Mr Simpson snapped. "There are four people away. Do you all have your books open to page 238?"

"Uh, excuse me, sir. You said page 248, not 238." Brian pointed out.

Mr Simpson glared at Brian. "Well, thank God you're here, Johnson." He said snidely. "Otherwise I fear I might not be able to teach."

Sniggers broke out around them room.

"What are you all laughing at?" Mr Simpson snapped.

The laughter died down. "Good call, Johnson." Asher Zhang, who was sitting in front of Allison and Brian, congratulated Brian.

"Thanks." Brian replied.

"You two down the back! Knock it off!" Mr Simpson bellowed. "Page 248, now!" he ordered.

Allison opened her maths textbook to the page instructed. Then, she groaned. "Oh, not this damn 'applied symmetry in advanced geometry and trigonometry' stuff again!" she complained. "It's complicated!"

Brian smiled slightly. "Would you like me to help you with it if you have any problems?" he offered.

Allison just looked at him. For a terrible moment, Brian thought that he might have offended her. He opened his mouth to apologise, when suddenly, she smiled at him. "I'd like that very much. Thank you." She responded, very grateful.

Brian smiled. "Happy to be of help." He responded.