Broken Hill Hurt (Broken Hill High 3)

The thought makes me pick up my pace.

I get halfway down the street to where the lined cars begin to thin out and scramble around in my bra for my phone. I need help, but who the hell am I going to call? Nate? No. He’d try and beat up everyone inside. Jesse? Nope, he’ll get halfway here and decide he needs a burger. Brooke? No, I wouldn’t even dream of asking her to come to a place like this. Mom? Hell no, I might be a little reckless and making stupid decisions but that’s just asking for trouble.

“Shit,” I sigh before hitting call.

I hold the phone up to my ear and wait. “Hey,” Jesse’s excited voice says through the line. “Where the hell are you? The party started ages ago.”

“I need your help,” I rush out in a panic.

“Huh? What’s going on?” he says.

“I-”

“Wait, wait. I can’t hear you. It’s too loud.” I listen as he makes his way through whatever party he’s at and look around at the busy street. Crap. I really hope there’s no one looking for me. “Tora?” Jesse says loudly through the phone, startling me. “What’s going on? Where are you?”

I cringe as I go to explain. “I’m at a Haven Falls party.”

“WHAT?” he roars down the line. “What the fuck are you doing there? Wait. How’d you get…? Fucking Jackson. I thought I made it clear I didn’t want you around him.”

“Jesse… just shut up and get me out of here. I don’t need a lecture right now, you can chew me out later. Right now, I need you to save my ass. They know who I am and they want to stick it to Nate.”

“Shit, Tora,” he sighs in anger. “Get out of there. Go down the street and find somewhere safe. I’ll be there in a few minutes.”

“Thanks, Jess,” I murmur, not bothering to tell him I’ve already done all that.

“Don’t mention it.”

The line goes dead and I do my best to wait patiently. He’ll only be a few minutes and I’m sure he’ll come with one hell of a nasty lecture about decision making. Hell, he’ll probably even lock me in the car before going to beat the crap out of Jackson and his friend.

I lean back against a lamppost and try to figure out if standing under this thing is good for me or not. I mean, on one hand, I’m visible to Jess when he comes and if something happens to me maybe someone else might witness it, but on the other hand… I’m visible.

“Tora?” a voice calls out into the night. I stand up a little straighter as I peer into the darkness. It’s definitely not Jesse. “Tora?” the voice calls again.

Crap. It’s Jackson.

“Tora, where the fuck are ya, babe?”

He’s either heard about what just happened in there or he’s legitimately looking for me. Maybe he’s concerned as he hasn’t seen me in a while, or maybe this whole friendship thing is bullshit and this is some ploy to get under Nate’s skin. Whatever it is, I don’t care to figure it out tonight. I just want to get under my blanket and pull out my Kindle, like I was supposed to be doing all along.

At least this has solved my earlier issue. I step back out of the light from the lamppost and hide amongst some bushes while I wait. My phone buzzes in my hand and I look down, hoping it’s Jesse telling me he’s nearly here, but disappointment floods me the second I unlock the screen.

Jackson – Where did you go? Can’t find you anywhere.

I let out a sigh and consider not replying but I’m so damn pissed off that I can’t help it.

Tora – Home. Your friends are douchebags. Next time hire a fucking stripper. I didn’t come so I could be their fucking entertainment so if any of those dickheads try to touch me again, I’ll be handling it my way.

I hit send and don’t need to bother explaining that ‘my way’ means releasing my boys on their asses.

Jackson – Shit. I didn’t fucking know. Where are you? I’ll come find you.

Tora – Don’t bother. I’m with Jess.

That should do the trick. I can deal with his questions on Monday, for now, all I want is to go home and forget I did yet another stupid thing.

As I lock my phone, a familiar Range Rover pulls up and I let out a relieved sigh. I’ve never been so happy to meet my doom in the form of a Jesse lecture. I hurry around the car and see there’s no one in the passenger seat and another wave a relief slams into me. At least there’ll be no one here to witness my ass getting handed to me.

I pull open the door and a cloud of cigarette smoke hits me in the face as I look up into the car to face Jesse’s wrath.