Broken Hill Hearts (Broken Hill High 4)

“About time,” I laugh.

“Wait, what?” Courtney says. “Who asked what?”

“Jackson,” Elle says. “He finally asked me out.”

“Please tell me you said yes,” I groan. “Because I swear, if you didn’t, I’m the one who’s going to be hearing about it.”

“Of course, I said yes,” she laughs.

“What?” Brooke gasps, throwing her hands up in the sky. “Noooo. Now he actually has a reason to hang out with us.”

Laughter bubbles up within me. “I have a feeling he was going to find a reason to hang out with us whether Elle said yes or not.”

“Hey,” we hear that very guy yell out from the football field. “Get your asses down here and play.”

Speak of the devil and he shall appear.

“Ugh,” Brooke groans. “I couldn’t think of anything worse.”

I look up and watch Jackson for a second. He legitimately wants us to go and kick a ball around with them and you know what? It’s not such a bad idea. I used to kick a ball around with Nate and Jesse all the time when we were kids and I absolutely loved it.

Elle’s eyes light up as she looks down at us all. “Please, please, please, please.”

“I’m game,” I announce with a smile as I push myself up off the ground.

“Yes,” Elle cheers making me laugh as I have no idea how she managed to resist pumping her fist up in the sky. Though, it probably has something to do with the fact that Jackson is watching us and she probably doesn’t want to appear too desperate.

“I’m sorry,” Brooke says, shaking her head. “There’s no way in hell you’re getting me down there and playing football with a bunch of meatheads.”

I shrug my shoulders. “Suit yourself,” I tell her before looking at Courtney and Bry. “What about you guys?”

Courtney cringes. “I’m with Brooke on this one.”

I shake my head. “Not a few months ago you were the idiots telling me I had to make memories.”

Bry scoffs. “Yeah, I can think of a lot better memories than that. I’ll pass.”

“Whatever,” Elle says. “You girls are boring.”

With that, she loops her arms through mine and practically skips down to the field, dragging me beside her the same way she had done with Courtney not five minutes ago.

I mean, how did this become my lunch break? Don’t get me wrong, I’m not complaining but when I woke up this morning, this is not something I expected myself to do, yet somehow, I can’t wait.

“Oh, my god,” Elle squeals beside me, clenching her hand down in mine. “Isn’t he cute? I still can’t believe he asked me out. You know, he just stormed straight up to me with this confidence I’ve never seen before and just asked. I mean, it was so hot, I couldn’t say no.”

I roll my eyes, loving that she has no idea where that confidence came from.

We get down to the field and I look up to find Jackson grinning like an idiot at Elle. She breaks away from me and hurries to meet him in the middle. I roll my eyes and continue forward, but I don’t get far when a hard body slams into me from the side like a freaking freight train.

“FUCK,” I yell as my body is thrown across the field. I crash down to the ground as a sharp throbbing pain splinters through my forearm. I scream out as the pain completely overwhelms me. I’ve never felt something so painful in my life.

Someone drops down beside me but my vision goes blurry. People are everywhere. Hands are reaching for me amd I scream for people not to touch me.

“Tora,” a loud voice says, suddenly right in my face.

I do what I can to concentrate on the voice. I blink back my tears and the blurriness begins to fade. My arms begins to throb with a pain that’s unbearable as Jackson’s face becomes the clear voice before me. “Tora,” he demands. “Are you ok?”

I shake my head as he looks up and tells someone to fuck off. “I…. I think it’s broken.”

“Fuck,” he grunts as Elle gasps and begins to tear up beside him. His eyes search frantically over my body. “What’s broken? Where does it hurt?”

I try to move my arm but all that does is make me scream out and realize I was right, it’s definitely broken. “My arm,” I tell him with heavy tears in my eyes as I begin to pant with the pain “I can’t move it.”

“Fuck, ok,” he says, slightly frantic. “Don’t move. Just focus on your breathing. I’ve broken my arm millions of times. You’ll be ok.” Jackson looks up at some guy that I can’t bother remembering the name of. “Call an ambulance.”

Shit. Why an ambulance? “Can’t someone just drive me?”

“No,” he says. “I don’t want to risk moving you. Just hold still. Help will be here soon.”