Broken Hill Hurt (Broken Hill High 3)

Tears begin to well in Courtney’s eyes and I silently beg Puck to get to the point before she turns into a sobbing mess in front of the whole school. “Court,” he says. “Be my girlfriend?”

The confidence of his proposal sounds more like he’s telling her rather than asking, but the fear of rejection hidden behind his eyes tells me he’s shitting bricks right now.

Courtney stands up and crosses her arms as a cheeky grin takes over her face. She slides her hands into her back pockets as though she doesn’t have a care in the world. “I don’t know,” she says, playing with him. “I heard you liked getting your butthole fingered, and that’s a hard pass for me.”

He grins back at her challenge as the room looks back and forth between them like a tennis match. “If anyone’s butthole is going to be fingered, it’s going to be yours,” he says. “Now put me out of my fucking misery. Are you going to be my girl?”

Courtney’s act slips as she lets out a sigh and a smile cuts across her whole face. “Oh, I guess so,” she tells him.

He does one of those boyish smiles and jumps down from the table. He cuts across the cafeteria and scoops her up into his arms before kissing her deeply as the whole room cheers for them.

I stop the video and instantly attach it in a new message to Nate.

Tora – How’d you know he was going to do that?

Nate – Fucking pussy!! The guy can’t take a piss without telling me.

Puck and Courtney’s audience gets back to minding their own business and he leads her back to our table as Maxen and Ty make their way across. “I’m just warning you,” Courtney says. “If you put your fingers anywhere near my butt, we’re done.”

“Trust me, babe,” he says with an excited grin. “You’ll love it.”

I shake my head and look away. I really don’t want to know whose fingers are going where.

The door of the cafeteria swings open and an arrogant, smug asshole comes waltzing in as though he’s the fucking king of the free world. “What the hell is he doing here?” I demand to anyone who’ll listen.

Jesse looks up to Jackson and a pissed off annoyance settles itself onto his face. “He didn’t get a suspension,” he explains. “If he did, he wouldn’t be able to play Thursday night’s game. Apparently, his mom talked Watkins into agreeing to community service or some bullshit like that.”

“What?” I demand. “He should have been kicked out for that shit.”

“Come on,” Jesse says as we both watch him sit down beside Phoenix and pull her onto his lap. “Me and Nate have done worse shit than that and just got a slap on the wrist. This school knows nothing about enforcing disciplinary action. It’s a joke.”

“For the first time, I think I agree with you.”

“Fuck me,” he gasps, looking horrified. “Are you feeling alright?”

I roll my eyes and look across at Brooke who I haven’t talked to all day, only something looks off. “I got to pee,” I tell her, knowing she’ll tag along.

She nods and I loop my arm through hers and lead her outside. “Where are we going?” she questions. “I thought you needed to pee.”

I shake my head. “Nope. Just wanted to get you alone. What’s going on? You look like someone just punched you in the ovaries.”

Her face scrunches up with a cringe. “It’s that bad, huh?”

“No,” I tell her. “I just know you that well.”

She lets out a heavy sigh and plonks herself down on the grass, pulling me down with her. “Something’s going on with Max,” she says, dropping her bottom lip.

“What do you mean?” I scoff. “People have pictures of you two all over social media saying #couplegoals and OMG! I wish I had that.”

Usually, she’d smile at the comments of others drooling over her relationship but all she does is purse her lips and study her hands. “He’s lying to me,” she tells me in such a low tone I have to struggle to make out the words.

No. There’s no way. “What would he possibly be lying to you about? The guy is sickly addicted to you.”

She looks away, unable to meet my eyes. “Last night he told me he had a family dinner, but I saw his mom at the grocery store who said she thought he was with me, and last week he ‘forgot’ we were going out. He stood me up then made up this bullshit excuse about heading out of town to stay with his Grandmother, but then I heard he was at some party with Tyson.”

“Shit,” I sigh, remembering that particular party and how Nate had wanted to go but settled for staying in with me because I had a headache. “I don’t get it,” I say. “He’s crazy in love with you. What do you think is going on? What’s your gut tell you?”