Broken Hill Hurt (Broken Hill High 3)

I let out a deep breath and realize she’s right. “Ok,” I sigh. “I’ll try.”

Chapter 18

After spending Sunday scrubbing the dirt off my car, I pull up at school bright and early on Monday morning. It’s a new day and a fresh start. It’s also the first time I’ll see Nate after screaming at him at the party and having him see me spooning his little brother.

It’s going to be great.

I’m kind of hoping he’ll back off and give me my space, but you can never be too sure with Nate Ryder. If he wants answers, he’ll bombard me until he gets them and it won’t be pretty.

I make my way out of my car and look around the lot. It doesn’t look like Nate or Brooke are here yet, but at least the girls are, so I’ll have some company while I wait for my undoubtedly horrible doom.

I grab my bag, sling it over my shoulder and head up to the front of the school where I find Elle, Brylee, and Courtney hanging out with Tyson and Puck. Brylee’s eyes widen in surprise when she sees me coming. “Oh, my God,” she says, breaking away from the group so she can meet me with a hug. “How are you?”

“Fine,” I groan, hugging her back.

She pulls back and studies me closer. “Really? Cause when I saw you on Friday night you didn’t look anything close to ‘fine’.”

“That’s because Friday night was awful. This is Monday morning and I feel great.”

“Uh huh,” she says with narrowed eyes. “Well, if you’re going to bullshit about it, at least tone it down a bit.”

I can’t help but smile at her. “Too much?”

She laughs and shakes her head. “Way too much.”

She drags me over to the group and Puck instantly throws his arm over my shoulder and yanks me in hard to his side. “How was the hangover on Saturday morning?”

“Don’t remind me,” I tell him as I push his heavy arm off me. “It wasn’t fun.”

“I bet,” he says as Tyson starts chuckling. “Did you make it through the whole bottle?”

I let out a huff as I look up at him. “Didn’t I say ‘don’t remind me’? I don’t want to think about Vodka for the rest of my life.”

“That bad, huh?” Courtney laughs.

“Worse. I slept outside in the grass.”

The girls shake their heads as the boys burst into laughter, but I’m not having it. “I’ll see you guys inside,” I tell them, breaking away and heading in through the doors.

I get halfway down to my locker when I hear Brooke’s voice coming from behind me. “Wait up,” she calls. I stop and turn to find her hurrying behind me, looking at me as though not a damn thing happened between us. “Hey,” she says with wide eyes as she catches up to me. “I have to talk to you.”

She pulls me along to her locker and hastily opens it up, skipping straight past mine. “You’re not going to give me a hard time about Friday night?” I question.

“I don’t give a shit a Friday night,” she says in a hushed tone as she leans into her locker and hides behind the door. “My period is late.”

My eyes widen in shock. “What?” I curse under my breath, leaning into her locker. “Are you sure?”

“Of course, I’m fucking sure,” she shrieks.

“Well… shit. Have you done a test?”

She shakes her head so vigorously I worry it might dislodge from her neck. “No, I’m too freaked out.”

“Ok, well that’s stupid,” I tell her. “There could be a million reasons why you’d be late.”

“Like what?” she grunts. “Because I only know of one, and it’s a big one.”

“I don’t know. Um… you could be getting sick, or maybe you’ve changed your diet, or stress, weight loss. There are heaps.”

She looks at me blankly. “Don’t be stupid,” she grunts, bending her head into me. “I’m fucking pregnant. I just know it.”

“Now who’s being stupid? Have you got a test?”

“No,” she says. “I wasn’t going to bring that shit here.”

I groan before pulling back from her. “Well, there’s only one way to know for sure,” I tell her as I step back. “I’ll be back in a few minutes.”

“Wait,” she calls, reaching out and pulling me back. “Where are you going?”

“Drug store,” I say. Her eyes widen and I give her a smug look. “I mean unless you’d like to go?”

“No,” she rushes out.

“Fine. I’ll text when I get back.”

She lets out a huff and slams her locker shut before leaning against it and sulking. “Fine.”

I hurry back down the hallway and check the time. I still have twenty minutes before the bell is due to ring. If I’m fast, Brooke and I will maybe only be a minute or two late for class. We could do it during our lunch break, but I have a feeling she’s not going to concentrate unless she knows for sure.