Broken Hill Havoc (Broken Hill High Series 5)

“I don’t want to chill,” I snap again. “I’m sorry, Jess, but I want to be left the fuck alone. I’ve got shit to get done.”

“It’s fine,” he laughs. “We’re going to order pizza.”

“Jesse, stop,” I demand with a loud groan as the headache really starts to pound against my temples. “You’re not ordering anything. This is my home, not a fucking frat house. You can’t just come over and have a party whenever the hell you want.”

“What the hell is wrong with you?” he questions, hating being called on his bullshit in front of a room full of people. “Brooke said it was cool if we chill.”

“Yeah, whatever. Stay if you want,” I say with a sigh, giving up. “I’ll study in my room instead. Just turn the music down.”

Jesse watches me for a second as I turn back and grab my bag off the table. As I go to make my way down the hall, I can’t help but look up at him and see hurt beneath his eyes, instantly making me feel like shit. “Are you serious, right now?” he grunts.

Great. I’m a fucking bitch now too. “Yes,” I sigh. “I’ve had a fucking shitty day and I just need quiet.”

Jess shakes his head as though he’s disappointed with me before turning back to the group. “Yo,” he says, addressing everyone. “Let’s bounce. McKellar’s having a party.”

With that, Jesse walks straight out the door, not looking back for a single second as the group of our friends follow behind him.

I walk to the door as Brooke watches me from the couch with a scowl. “Jess?” I call after him. I watch him climb up into his Range Rover and slam the door closed without even raising his eyes to me, knowing he would have heard me loud and clear.

Fuck. I’m going to be hearing about this later.

Kaylah climbs in his passenger’s side and gives me a tight smile and a discrete little wave before Jesse pulls away from the curb and shoots down the street. Next up, Elle and Jackson, quickly followed by Puck and Court.

I mean, any other night this would have been incredible. I’m usually down for a night in with all my friends, and it’s even better that it was here. I could have drunk as much as I wanted and not had to worry about getting myself home. It would have been a perfect night if only I didn’t have such an awful day.

Where is Nate? I could really use him about now.

As the cars disappear from the street, I close the door and make my way back inside with a sigh to see Brooke huffing around the kitchen, cleaning up the empty beer bottles and potato chip packets. She dumps them in the trash before turning back to me. “You couldn’t just let us have one fun night?” she accuses.

“By all means,” I say, waving my hand towards the door. “Go with them.”

Her eyes narrow on me. “You’re a real bitch, you know that?”

“Yeah,” I grunt, grabbing my bag from the table and pulling out my books to get stuck into my studying. “Tell me something I don’t know.”

She huffs again, grabs her phone off the couch, and storms down the hallway before slamming her door.

Fuck.

This night is not going how I had planned. Not even close.

I grab myself a drink of water and wash down a few painkillers before finding something to eat and taking a seat at the table. I open my books, wishing I could be climbing in bed rather than getting ready to spend the night at this damn table.

The painkillers start to dull the ache in my head and I find myself finally able to concentrate on the work in front of me.

Thank God. How could this night have gone from bad to worse? I’ve literally just pushed away the only people I have at the moment, and most likely hurt Jesse’s feelings in the process. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again. Jesse is a marshmallow. He’s soft and gooey on the inside and I don’t doubt I’m going to have to worm my way back in after what I just did.

Brooke, on the other hand, is hard as a rock. She’ll bounce back in no time and as soon as all this Lukas bullshit has passed, we’ll go straight back to normal. That’s the good thing about having a best friend like Brooke. We get each other, except for right now, of course.

My phone rings on the table and I look down to find mom calling. I let out a relieved sigh as taking this call would serve as a great excuse to stop studying for a while. I answer the call and push up from the table before making my way over to the couch.