“Shit. Nate,” Jesse yells at the top of his lungs. “Mom and dad will be home in an hour.”
“Fuck,” I hear cursed from within my room.
I stand at the open doorway and watch in amusement as Jesse comes tearing out of his room with some random girl behind him while Nate rips the door open of mine. Jesse looks at me and Nate in confusion, probably wondering why we’ve switched bedrooms before both the boys take off down the hallway and then down the stairs like a herd of elephants.
I take my opportunity to duck into my room and grab my things so I can get out of here for the day. As I go to exit my room, both the boys appear in my doorway with shocked and confused looks covering their handsome faces. I barge my way between them before making my way downstairs.
“Whoa,” Nate says, hurrying after me and catching my elbow to bring me to a stop. I spin around and he takes me in, looking up and down my body and grinning as he notices I’m still wearing his shirt. “Where are you going?”
“Home,” I tell him as I shrug out of his grip and try to ignore the way my body is screaming to get closer to him.
Nate doesn’t respond and Jesse steals my attention. “You cleaned our house,” he says in confusion.
“Observant,” I mutter with a sarcastic grin.
“Why?” he questions.
“Because I had a feeling you idiots were going to sleep in,” I say before turning back around and heading down the stairs.
They hurry down behind me and Nate takes my elbow again. “Wait,” he says. “We’ll make you lunch.”
“Nate,” I groan. “I’ve already eaten. I’ve hardly slept and all I want to do is go home and sleep in my own bed.”
“You’ve eaten?” he questions in disbelief.
“Yes. I’ve eaten,” I confirm with a roll of my eyes. “I’ll see you guys at school.”
With that, I walk out the door and leave them behind. I keep myself walking for twenty minutes, wishing I had my car with me. I get all the way home and the second I push through the door, I drag my feet up to my room and collapse down into my bed.
I don’t remember falling asleep but a few hours later, my phone buzzing with an incoming text has me groaning into the late afternoon. I reach over and grab the phone before snuggling back into my bed.
I bring up the message and grin at my idiot best friend.
Brooke – Holy crap, Torz. WHAT A GREAT NIGHT! Can you believe it? It was incredible! I mean, HE was incredible. I tell ya, Torz. It was ALL NIGHT LONG!!!!!!!
Tora – STOP!!!! You’re making me laugh too hard, it hurts. Believe me, I know it was all night long because I had to sleep in Nate’s bed!
Brooke – Oh shit! Sorry. I didn’t even think about that.
Tora – I figured.
Brooke – We have so much to talk about tomorrow. I can’t wait.
Brooke – Oh, and btw, apparently, Miss Pom-Pom is on the warpath! She’s coming after you. I still can’t believe I missed you bitch slap her.
Tora – Tell her to bring it!
Chapter 12
After checking in with mom and dad and saying a quick hello to Nanna, I get myself up and ready for Monday morning at school. I can’t believe it’s only the start of week two. It feels like I’ve done enough living to last me a lifetime over the past seven days.
I’ve made out with the quarterback and gotten rid of him, declared war on the cheerleaders, started living with two teenage boys, been the reason for one major heartbreak, rekindled my friendship with Jesse, and managed to have a half decent conversation with Nate Ryder during the middle of a spontaneous pool party.
This is ridiculous. This isn’t what my life is, but over the past seven days, it’s quickly becoming my new reality.
I drive into the Broken Hill High parking lot and search for a spot that’s far away from everybody in the hopes that no one sees just how bad I am at driving this hunk of metal. I mean, so far, I think I’m doing a pretty good job, considering I taught myself from reading up on google, but it’s not a smooth drive at all. Every gear change comes with a jump and I’ve slammed on the brakes more than I care to admit.
As I bring the car to a stop, I instantly find myself looking around for his car, only I never get a chance to actually find it as the warning bell is already ringing. “Shit,” I grunt. It must have taken me longer to get my ass here than I had thought.
I hurry up to the school and find Brooke just about to head to class. “Hey,” I call out, prompting her to turn around. “Wait up.”
She rolls her eyes and makes her way over to my locker before unlocking it for me to help quicken things up. I jam my stuff into it before we dash off to our class together. “What’s going on?” she questions as my eyes scan the room. I let out a breath. He’s not here, though I shouldn’t be surprised, skipping class isn’t exactly taboo for him. “You’re never late.”
“I know,” I tell her as I slide in behind my desk. “I drove the Audi, or at least, I tried to.”
“Shit,” she laughs. “Was it really that bad?”
“Yeah,” I grin. “I had to park in the furthest spot away because I’m too chicken to reverse out with cars beside me.”
“You’re such an idiot,” she laughs before quickly glancing at the people around us and making sure no one is listening in on our conversation. “So,” she says in a whisper. “I swear, Saturday night was the best night of my life.”
“Really?” I ask. “Was he as good as they all say he is?”
“Better,” she says with a flush creeping into her cheeks. “He lived up to his reputation… three times.”
“No way,” I laugh.
She nods her head. “It was so good. I didn’t want to leave, but then last night, he called me and I snuck out to see him.”
“What?” I shriek under my breath as Mr. Miller walks in and start organizing his papers. “Your mom would have killed you if you got caught.”
“I know,” she says. “But more importantly, Maxen came back for seconds. He never goes back for seconds.”
I think it over and realize she’s right so I go to give her a cheesy high five but Mr. Miller is cutting into everyone’s conversation and demanding our attention. “Alright, guys,” he says. “Your weekend is over so if you wouldn’t mind leaving the conversation about who had the best party until your lunch break, that would be great. Now, turn to page sixty-eight in your textbook and we’ll get started.”
With that, I start flicking through the pages when the door of the room is pushed open. My eyes instantly snap up and find Nate walking through the door as though he doesn’t have a care in the world.
“Nathaniel,” Mr. Miller reprimands. “What kind of time do you…?” He lets out a resigned sigh. “Never mind. Just take your seat and turn to page sixty-eight.”
Nate doesn’t acknowledge him as he walks up the row of desks and past me. His eyes lock on mine for the briefest moment and for a second, it’s as though I was thrown back to last week. His hard eyes scan over me with disinterest before flicking away and making me wonder if he has forgotten everything that’s happened over the past few days.
I try to ignore it all but find it impossible with him taking the seat directly behind me. I get on with my work and an hour later am relieved when the class is dismissed.
At lunch, I meet Brooke in the cafeteria and get ourselves something to eat. While we’re picking something out, Courtney and Bec come to join us.
We turn around to find our table when I see them all. The group of boys sitting amongst Jesse, though, luckily for me, Nate is nowhere to be seen. Then there are the cheerleaders with one particular nasty glare coming my way from the cheer princess. Next up, Josh’s scowl. I mean, the guy has never been turned down in his life so I’m sure when I told him to back off it would have bruised his ego.
“What do you say about sitting out in the sun today?” I suggest to my group of friends.
Brooke looks longingly over toward Maxen, who’s grinning back at her. �
��Alright,” she groans as Courtney and Bec shrug their shoulders, not really giving a crap where we sit.
The second our assess hit the ground, Brooke launches into her detailed explanation of her last two nights with Max. She goes from having a cocky attitude to getting a little more reserved and the by the end of the story, she’s blushing and acting as though she’s desperately in love with the guy.
I groan, seeing that she’s already starting to have real feelings for this guy. I mean, he’s a player, through and through. He’s just as bad as Jesse and Nate and she’s going to get her heart crushed.
Towards the end of lunch, I watch as the whole football team and cheer squad comes out of the cafeteria to take advantage of the rest of their break. The football team head down to the field while naturally, the cheerleaders follow, each of them tucked safely under one of the boys' arms.
They kick around a ball while we sit and watch the show.
It’s nearly the end of lunch when Elle’s best friend, Phoenix, points me out. Elle turns around and looks for me and the second her eyes meet mine, they narrow with some sort of nasty plan. She calls out to Josh who looks up at hearing his name before she points me out.
Together they both smirk and start making their way over here. They meet in the middle and beeline for me.
“Shit,” Brooke cringes, saying what we’re all thinking. “This isn’t going to be good.”
“I know,” I groan. “It was bound to happen sooner or later,” I say, watching in amusement as their arrogant grins turn into innocent smiles the closer they get.
“I don’t know,” Courtney says. “They look like they just want to talk.”
I scoff at her. “No way are they just wanting to talk,” I say. “Not after I turned him down and slapped her in front of the whole senior class.”
“Good point,” Courtney grunts.
Our conversation comes to a stop as Elle and Josh reach us with their fake smiles. “Hey Tora,” Josh says first with a strange excitement in his eyes. “What’s going on?”
I narrow my eyes on him, not liking that I don’t know their game plan. “What do you want, Josh?” I question while I busily ignore Elle.
“I thought we could talk,” he tells me as he rubs the back of his head. “I was kind of an ass the other night. I want to make it up to you.”
I scoff and turn my attention on Elle, not believing a word Josh says. “And I suppose you want to talk, too?”
“Look,” she says, instantly jumping on the defense as I get to my feet. “It’s my senior year and I’m not interested in playing games. I have too much riding on my shoulders being the cheer captain and if I want to get into my top choice for college, then I can’t afford any distractions. So, I think we need to put this thing to rest. We should go somewhere private and sort out our differences before things gets out of hand.”
“You’d make a great actress,” I tell her as Brooke, Courtney, and Bec also get to their feet, making it a point that we’re not buying their bullshit.
Elle’s eyes darken and I watch as her jaw clenches while also trying to maintain her innocent smile. Whatever this plan is, it involves getting me alone, and that’s some next level bullshit that I’m not going to fall for. “Come on, babe,” Josh says, reaching out and stroking his hand down my arm. “We only need a minute and then we’ll leave you alone.”
I pull back away from his touch and am about to tell him to shove his head up his ass when an arm is thrown over my shoulder. I startle at the suddenness of having someone so close beside me and whip my head around to find Jesse. Though, I shouldn’t be surprised. It seems that whenever something is going on, Jesse is always close by. “What’s up, Josh?” Jesse says, narrowing his eyes on him as though he knows their secret.
“What do you want, Jesse?” Josh grunts as he focuses all his attention on him.
“Not much. I was just about to steal Tora away.”
“Tough shit,” Josh replies with a heavy scowl, making it clear just how much he doesn’t like Jess. “She was coming with us to talk things out.”
“Oh,” Jesse says, feigning surprise before looking down at me. “Were you busy?”
“Nope,” I tell him. “I’ve got all the time in the world.”
“Are you serious, right now?” Elle cuts in with her signature attitude. “We’re trying to do something nice for you.”
“Right,” Jesse says, releasing his arm off my shoulder and stepping forward towards Elle. “I know all about the ‘nice’ thing you wanted to do for Tora, and let me tell you, it ain’t going to happen. Not unless you want word of what you did at Ty’s party last month to get out.”
Her face drains of all color as her eyes widen in horror. She flicks her eyes to me and then back to Jesse before swallowing her pride. “Come on, Josh,” she says, not removing her glare off Jesse. “We should go.”
“What?” he grunts. “No way.”
“Josh,” Elle demands. “Let’s go.” With that, she turns and walks away.
Josh’s eyes narrow on me before he realizes he’s completely alone here. He lets out a small huff before turning and following Elle, though I get the feeling that he’s not quite finished with me. He wants his revenge and he’ll stop at nothing to get it.
Jesse turns back to me with a grin the size of Texas across his face. “You’re welcome,” he says before nodding and pretending to tip his non-existent hat to me.
“I’m welcome?” I scoff. “I totally had that handled. I didn’t need your big head getting involved.”
“Bullshit,” he says. “You would have caved out of curiosity.”
My mouth drops and I go to call him out when Brooke cuts me off. “Speaking of curiosity,” she says. “What the hell happened at Tyson’s party?”
Jesse's eyes cut across to Brooke before he winks and draws his fingers across his lips, pretending to zip them. She rolls her eyes but he doesn’t see as he turns his attention back on me. “Come on,” he tells me before walking off.
“What? I’m not going anywhere with you,” I call behind him.
He stops and looks back at me. “Hurry up,” he demands.
I let out a sigh before looking back at the girls. “I’ll be back in a bit.”
“No, she won’t,” he tells them.
I shake my head and wave goodbye before following Jesse up towards the school. “Would you wait up?” I say.
We walk into the hallway with the senior lockers and Jesse stops right beside mine. “You should probably get your things. You won’t be coming back today.”
“Huh?” I grunt as I stare at him blankly. “Where the hell are we going?”
“No fucking clue,” he says before nodding towards my locker. “Make it quick.”
I cross my arms over my chest and give him an impatient look as I lean against the locker. “I’m not ditching school.”
“Why do you have to be so difficult all the time?” he groans before reaching for the lock and putting the combination straight in. He opens it as I gawk at him and takes my bag straight out. “Come on,” he says before stalking off.
“Hey,” I call after him before I realize he would more than happily take off with my things. I hurry to catch up with him and yank my bag out of his hands. “What do you think you’re doing? And how do you know the combination for my locker?”
“First up, I’m trying to get you to hurry up. I thought that much was clear, and the combination is the same as your gate at home. 1005. You really need to find something a little more original.”
I narrow my eyes on him and give in. “Where are we going?” I ask as he pushes out the front doors of the school and walks down towards the parking lot.
“I’m not going anywhere,” he tells me. “You are.”
“Huh?” I grunt just as Nate’s Camaro pulls into the lot. He drives around and a moment later he comes to a stop right before us.
Jesse reaches for the door handle and pulls it open. “Get in,” he tells me. I clench my jaw and l
ook over my shoulder. I wonder how far I’ll make it before they’ll catch me? “Don’t even think about it,” Jesse says. “I’ll catch you in no time, and trust me, I’ll enjoy throwing you over my shoulder.”
I groan and narrow my eyes on Jesse. “You’re an ass.”
“And you’re a princess,” he tells me. “Now, get in.”
With a huff, I do as I’m told and slide into the passenger’s seat of Nate’s car. Jesse shuts the door a second later and before I know it, Nate is peeling out of the school parking lot. “Will you at least tell me where we’re going?”
Naturally, he doesn’t respond, though I’m not surprised. He reaches into the back of his car and a second later, he tosses something onto my lap before focusing back on the road. “Eat,” he says.
I look down into my lap to find a sandwich looking back up at me. With a groan, I start nibbling.
Nate looks across to make sure I’m eating and seems to relax a bit when he watches me pull off a piece of bread and pop it into my mouth. “You’ve got to tell Jesse to back off,” I tell him.
His eyebrows pull down before he turns back to me. “Why?” he grunts.
“He tried to swoop in and save me from Elle and Josh when I had it handled. You know, despite what you and Jesse think, I can take care of myself.”
Nate shakes his head and pushes his car a little faster. “Do you have any idea what they were planning on doing to you?”
“No,” I say. “But it wasn’t going to happen anyway. I wasn’t going with them.”
“Whether or not you went with them is beside the point. They would have gone through with their plan anyway. They would have just waited you out. Done it at a party or tried to corner you at home. Trust me, you don’t know how these people work.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?” I question. “What was their plan?”
He lets out a sigh as his hand tightens on the steering wheel, turning his knuckles white. “They were going to strip you down and have Josh all over you. Elle was going to record the whole thing and post it all over the internet, calling you a whore. I overheard them discussing it this morning.”
Broken Hill High: The Broken Hill High Series (Book 1) Page 11