Broken Hill Hurt (Broken Hill High 3)

“What?” she sputters, laughs, and shrieks all at the same time. “Are you feeling ok? I know you want to be a little reckless, do some crazy shit, but I assumed that meant hooking up with some random guy or trading out Vodka for Tequila, not getting involved in illegal drag racing. This is ridiculous, not to mention dangerous. You remember what happened to Nate a few months ago, right? He nearly died.”

“Oh, come on,” I tell her as I cut the engine and open the door. “It’s not that big of a deal. It’s called having fun. I’m letting loose.”

“If you want to let loose, then go ask any one of the guys around here for a joint. We’ll go somewhere and smoke it. We don’t need to be putting ourselves in that kind of danger.”

“Chill,” I groan. “It’ll be fine.”

“No,” she says as we walk forward. “This is not fine.”

“It’s not like I’m planning on winning. I’ll be careful. I just want the adrenaline of the race and then we can go to this party and you and Jesse can help me guzzle vodka until I’m hospitalized.”

“Jesus,” she grunts under her breath. “I’ll be cutting you off way before it gets to that point.”

I shrug my shoulders. “Have it your way. But if I don’t forget, I’m personally holding it against you.”

“I’ll try my best,” she says, rolling her eyes.

I take her hand and we squish our way through the throng of people and I have to say, it’s times like these that I miss being with the boys. The crowds just seem to make a path when they’re around, there is none of this squishing bullshit where you get elbowed in the boob.

We break through to the race and look down at the track. There’s one midway through the race with a green car way ahead, the same way Nate would be if he was on this track tonight.

Damn it. There I go thinking of Nate again. I’m seriously fucked.

I search through the bodies down at the track, searching for the familiar scrawny body of the guy who runs this place. It doesn’t take long. He’s the only dipshit around here with thick glasses, a tie, and a clipboard.

I point down towards Aaron. “I’m going down there. Are you coming?”

“Holy crap. You’re actually serious about this.”

“Um, yeah. I didn’t come here to watch a bunch of dickheads try to beat Nate’s time. I’m doing this with or without you, but I’d prefer to have someone to laugh about it with tomorrow.”

“Fine,” Brooke groans. “But you owe me.”

“Noted.”

With that, we start making our way down to the track and before we know it, I‘m reaching out and tapping Aaron’s shoulder, trying to get his attention over the deafening sound of the engines on the track. “Hey,” I call out.

Aaron turns and narrows his eyes on me, probably trying to place me. The recognition doesn’t take long. It never does. “Oh, hey,” he says, a little confused. “You’re Nate’s girl. What’s going on?”

“I want to race,” I tell him, straight up.

“Oh,” he says, surprised before looking down at his ridiculous clipboard. “I can make that happen. I thought Nate wasn’t going to be ready for a few months?”

“No,” I say. “Not him. Me. I want to race my R8.”

His eyes widen in surprise. “Really?” he grunts. “I didn’t know you race.”

“I do now,” I tell him.

“Alright,” he says. “I have another newbie looking to race. I’ll line it up after the next one. have your car down here in ten minutes and line up at t-”

“I know the drill,” I tell him cutting him off and looking away, hoping he doesn’t see how damn nervous I am.

“Good,” he says as I notice a set of dark eyes staring me down. I gasp as Aaron goes on about some stupid newbie rule about not backing out. I grunt and nod, but let’s be real, I’m no longer listening. Nate is here and he’s looking right at me.

I can’t look away, especially from the hardness within his eyes. This is the old Nate. The one who used to torment and bully me. His eyes rake over me as he lifts a cigarette to his lips which only serves to piss me off. I mean, it’s only been a week and he’s already fallen back into his old ways. But the way he’s looking at me now, trying to work out why the hell I’m here talking to Aaron is seriously pissing him off.

My breaking point though, is the whore of a girl currently draping herself all over him. He’s completely ignoring her but all it does is piss me off. Nothing now will possibly change my mind about this race. I need it like I need my next breath.

His eyes narrow and he takes a step forward which is when I promptly decide that I can’t handle this right now. Talking to him, especially when he’s like this is going to be devastating and that’s something I don’t want to deal with right now.