Broken Hill High (Broken Hill High 1)

An hour passes and the noises start to lessen. The music is lowered before it eventually gets turned off. The front door opens and closes at least fifty times before the voices finally fade away.

I reach over to light up the screen of my phone to see it’s now five thirty in the morning and groan. All I want to do is sleep.

I lay in bed for another half an hour until the sun is peeking through the window and hitting me right in the face. I get up out of Nate’s bed and realize I still have no clothes as I’m not brave enough to go barging into my room with Maxen and Brooke probably butt naked in it.

I put my bikini back on before pulling Nate’s shirt over the top and tying it in a knot at the back. I grab my shorts and shuffle them up my legs before sliding my sandals back on. I let out a heavy sigh and head into Nate’s bathroom to splash some water over my face.

As I walk out of his room, I see the mess before I even get to the stairs. As I walk down, I find myself gawking at it all. There are red cups littered on every available surface with half of them knocked off and spilled all over the tiles. There’s furniture turned over. There are empty alcohol bottles covering the kitchen. There’s mud walked right through the house. The outdoor pool area is a mess with three of the sunbeds in the pool.

This is ridiculous. I’ve never seen the morning after and now that I have, it’s something I never want to see again.

And to think all this started when I asked Trish if I could invite a friend over.

With that knowledge firmly in my mind, I start cleaning.

I flick the music on low and grab a big trash bag. I start with the rooms that didn’t get used much and gasp as I find a body fast asleep on the couch in the formal living room. I poke the guy and wait for him. “Hey,” I call. “Time to go.”

“What?” he groans as he pushes himself up.

“Get your ass out of here, dude,” I say a little louder.

“Jesus, woman,” he grunts before getting up and actually heading to the door. I smile at my accomplishment as I thought that would have taken a lot longer.

I get on with my cleaning, collecting all the red cups in each room and stacking them to save room in the trash. It surprisingly doesn’t take long to put each room back together as once the furniture is straightened and the cups removed, it’s pretty much done, except for mopping and wiping all the surfaces down, of course.

By eight o’clock, there are seven massive trash bags waiting by the door for someone to take out to the bin. I mean, if I knew where their bins were, I’d probably take the bags out, but that’s something the boys are going to have to do.

I find the mop and go nuts in each room before finding the spray and wipe and wiping everything down. It’s only then that I realize I haven’t seen Nate anywhere and wonder where the hell he slept.

At ten, I head out the back and straighten everything up while also enjoying the sun that peaks out from behind the clouds. By eleven thirty I’m hosing everything down and standing back with a smile. I’m exhausted already and for once, my stomach is actually grumbling.

I make myself a sandwich, and by midday, I head back upstairs to Nate’s room to read a little. I must only be reading for twenty minutes when Jesse screaming from within his bedroom has me flying out of Nate’s bed and rushing towards the door.

“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?”