Broken Hill Hearts (Broken Hill High 4)

Beyoncé’s ‘Run the World’ comes shooting through the speakers and the cheerleaders get stuck into their routine, starting with, I have to admit, a pretty awesome formation. Elle watches on with wide eyes as her jaw practically falls to the grandstand. “This was my routine,” she seethes, looking across at me and Brooke in a fit of rage. “That’s my choreography.”

“Then do something about it,” Brooke says.

“Like what?” she grunts. “Run around having a hissy fit claiming they stole my shit? No way. All that’s going to do is make me an even bigger target. Trust me, I know how those bitches work. There’s nothing I can do.”

I lean across and squeeze her knee. “In that case, sit back and enjoy the show knowing they had to steal your choreography because they’re shit without you.”

Pride fills her and she raises her chin as she looks back to the hot mess down on the field. “You’re right. They’re fucking nothing without my routines. They’ve been recycling them all year. It’d be interesting to see what they could actually come up with on their own.”

“What?” I gasp in mock horror. “The cheerleaders actually doing something original? Never.”

Elle rolls her eyes and laughs as we sit back and watch.

“You know,” Brooke says after the first chorus. “It’s a pretty good routine. Have you considered taking it professional?”

“What do you mean?” Elle grunts.

“You could hire yourself out to all the teams across the state and charge them a fee to choreograph their routines for those stupid cheer competitions. I’m sure you’d make a killing.”

“You’ve watched way too much ‘Bring it on’,” Elle laughs.

The girls get into mindless chatter about ridiculous cheerleading movies and I take that as my cue to zone out. I mean, I loved ‘Bring it on’ as much as the next girl but it’s not exactly the kind of thing I want to sit and chat about. Brooke and Elle on the other hand, they’re completely in the zone.

I get distracted with all the people around and I start watching the students instead. I watch a blatantly obvious drug deal go down, which is done so casually no one would suspect a thing. I watch the bookworms get bored of the cheerleaders and discreetly pull their Kindles and books from their bags. I watch the science geeks madly scribbling in their notebooks, always working towards something and probably hating that we have the morning off classes.

Next up, I find my eyes searching out Nate. I find him way across the opposite side of the grandstand which usually wouldn’t cause concern, but the fact that he’s standing next to Principal Watkins has me all sorts of messed up. More so when he looks off into the distance with a strange look on his face.

I can’t help but follow his gaze right up to the front of the school where a police cruiser is parked and I instantly think the worse. He’s done something and the fact that Watkins has him in his sights screams a million things. Every single one of them worse than the last.

Shit, Nate. What’s he done?

My eyes continue flicking between Nate and the cops. He never once removes his eyes off them and the look on his face speaks volumes. The cops walk around and I watch as they discreetly start making their way down to the football field. They walk behind the grandstand and all the way over to Principal Watkins where they discreetly pull Nate aside.

Principal Watkins gets in on their conversation, as he should. I mean, I know Nate is over eighteen, but it looks bad on the school if the Principal is allowing the police to question a student without parental consent or a staff member present.

I search the stands for Jesse and only find the back of his head as he also watches the scene unfold. Shit. I just need him to turn and look at me for two seconds and I’ll be able to read his face to see if he knows what the hell is going on.

My eyes flick back to Nate to see a man in a very expensive suit join them. The man looks polished. Important. It couldn’t be a lawyer, right? Nate isn’t in that much trouble. I mean, if he had done something, he’d tell me.

The music for ‘Run the World’ continues but by now it’s just background music. I usually really love the song. I mean, who doesn’t love owning the fact that women make killer lady bosses? But right now, I just want it to end so I can storm down there and find out what the hell is going on.

I consider pulling out my phone and demanding answers from Jesse but I’m too scared to distract myself with my phone in case I miss something. With that thought, my eyes remain focused solely on Nate, silently begging him to look up at me.