Broken Hill High: The Broken Hill High Series (Book 1)

by Sheridan Anne

  “What?” I gasp. “You’re going to leave me behind?”

  “Don’t think of it like that,” Mom tells me. “You’re going to stay and concentrate on your studies just as your Nanna would want. I don’t want you seeing her so ill, and quite frankly, nor would she.”

  I hang my head. I know she’s right, but the fear of never seeing my Nanna again haunts me. I nod my head ever so slightly, letting her know I understand. “I’ve spoken to Trish and Cade,” she tells me, making the hairs stand up on the back of my neck. “They’re happy for you to go and stay with them until we return.”

  “What?” I shriek, flying back out of my chair and getting to my feet as I wipe the tears from my eyes. “No way am I staying with them.”

  “What’s wrong with staying with them?” my father grunts, finally adding his two cents into the conversation.

  “Um….. ever heard of two losers by the names of Nate and Jesse?” I grunt.

  “Oh, come on,” Mom says. “Nate and Jesse are lovely boys. You’ll be fine.”

  “You’ve got to be kidding me, right?” I say as the dread starts to seep way down into my bones. There’s no way on God's green Earth that I’m staying there. It would be never-ending torture from Nate. Day in and day out. Over my dead body. “Why can’t I stay with Brooke?” I question as I start thinking of my options.

  “Sweetie,” mom says with sympathy. “You know I love Brooke, but I can’t stand her mother. You know that. That woman would treat you awful, just to get at me for inconveniencing her.”

  I let out a sigh. She has a good point. I mean, there’s a reason Brooke sleeps over so much. Her mother is a nasty piece of work.

  “Well…,” I say, playing my last card as I give them my puppy dog eyes. “I’m seventeen now. Why can’t I stay by myself? I have a car, I can get myself to school and back every day. I know how to cook. I’ll be alright by myself. I’ll check in every day. Please?” I beg.

  Mom looks over at dad who shrugs his shoulder, clearly having absolutely no input on the situation, as usual. “I don’t know, Tori,” mom says.

  “Please? I wouldn’t want to put Trish and Cade out like that when I’ll be fine on my own.”

  Mom lets out a heavy sigh. “Fine,” she finally says, “But I’ll be getting Trish to pop in every few days to check on you.”

  “Deal,” I say as a sigh of relief comes tearing out of me while a smile rips across my face. That was a close one.

  Chapter 3

  Brooke and I pull up at school first thing on Monday morning. It’s our first day of being seniors and I can’t be more thrilled. The lot is busy and I find myself looking out at all the bodies shuffling around, trying to make their way up to the front of the school.

  Broken Hill High. The only private school in the area, so naturally, it’s filled with students whose parents practically fight for their position here. Being the only private school, it means that the board can raise the school fee’s and the parents are still going to pay it.

  It’s filled with every kind of person you’d find at a regular school, only these kids come with the snobby attitude of kids who were raised with money. Just great. It means all the cheerleaders are extra bitchy and the jocks are bigger dickheads than you could possibly imagine.

  Welcome to Broken Hill High.

  Brooke parks her car beside Courtney’s and we grin as both she and Bec step out at the same time. “Hey,” they both smile. We meet at the front of the cars before walking up to the school together, each with a coffee in our hands. “I’m so excited,” Bec says as she pushes her auburn hair back behind her ear and makes sure it looks perfect for the first day. “We’re seniors. Top of the school.”

  “I know,” Brooke laughs. “This place is ours. We’re going to dominate this school.”

  I roll my eyes at their excitement as we head through the huge double doors of the school. I can’t help but glance at the groups of people around me. First, my eyes are drawn to the giggling to my right and notice the cheerleaders hovering around their queen’s locker. Though from what I can tell perfect little Miss Elle isn’t here yet, but when she is, the cheerleaders will all scream and jump up and down with excitement.

  Next up, my eyes travel to the group of jocks who are making their way across to them with their letterman jackets, declaring them the biggest group of losers this school has ever seen.

  Then there are the mean girls, who I stay far away from, and of course, the bad boys who tend to hover around the mean girls. Naturally, Nate is in the group of bad boys, though, I don’t expect to see any of those guys yet as they’d all be hovering around their cars, smoking or screwing until the final warning bell has rung.

  The bad boy group is made up of the five worst guys in the school. Every single one of them completely swoon-worthy with an awful personality. Of course, there’s the head of the group, Nate Ryder, aka, the biggest dickhead in Broken Hill, next up, his brother, Jesse, who considers himself to be absolutely hilarious, though, I don’t quite agree. Then there’s their cousin Maxen who Brooke has a crush on, and finally there are Nate and Jesse’s best friends, Parker and Tyson. The perfect band of badasses to stay away from, not unless you want your world rocked followed by a thorough heartbreaking.

  These guys are the go-to guys for a good time. You know, if you don’t own a cheerleading uniform and want to get a bit nasty between the sheets, then that group of five is the direction you’d be heading. Rumor has it that every single one of them would be a prize, but me? It’s not exactly a prize I’m interested in.

  My group, we’re just the regular kids. We’re just normal. I mean, you could say we’re kind of popular. If I had to go through and make a popularity chart for the girls in the school, I’d say at the top is the cheerleaders, followed by the mean girls, and then maybe us, despite the way Nate tries to tear me down. For kids who can’t make it as a cheerleader and are terrified of the mean girls, they come to us, and naturally, we’re more than happy to lend a helping hand.

  We pass by my locker first and I stop to dump all my things in it while Brooke darts across the hallway to hers. As I’m finishing up and closing my locker, two arms come down on either side of me, caging me in. “I’m sorry I was an ass the other night,” I hear murmured into my ear.

  I turn around to find Josh hovering above me with his signature smirk. “You really were an ass,” I tell him.

  He presses his lips down on mine and without the added push from the alcohol, I have to admit, it’s pretty good. His arms wind around me and he presses me into my locker. “Forgive me,” he says.

  “I don’t know, Josh,” I say. “I heard you had a pretty exciting night.”

  His eyebrows pull down and he looks at me in confusion. “What are you talking about?”

  I slide my phone out of my pocket and turn the screen around to face him. He looks down at the picture of him getting his world rocked and grins. “Oh, yeah. I forgot about that,” he says. “But what did you expect? You said no and it’s not like we’re actually dating.”

  I press my lips together as I consider him. He’s right. We’re not dating, just making out at random parties. “Fine,” I groan.

  And just like that, his lips are crushing on mine again.

  “Ugh,” Brooke says as she saunters over with Bec and Courtney joining her. “Get a room.”

  With that, Josh pulls back and winks at me before joining the rest of the jocks who are flirting with the cheerleaders.

  My eyes follow him as he leaves which is when I notice Elle, the head cheerleader, shooting daggers my way.

  Shit. I hadn’t even noticed her arriving. Day one and Josh has just put a massive target on my back. Just what I need.

  It’s common knowledge around here that the cheerleaders do not share their toys, and the football team; well, they are theirs, especially the quarterback.

  “Are you sure you want to keep messing around with their quarterback?” Courtney grunts. “Elle looks like she could tear you a
new asshole right now.”

  “It’s fine,” I say, waving off her concern. “Nothing is going on with me and Josh. It’s just a little innocent flirting and a bit of making out.”

  “Even though he had a blonde getting acquainted with his junk on Friday night?” Brooke grunts.

  “As Josh just so kindly reminded me, we’re not dating. So, technically he can have whoever the fuck he wants sucking his dick. Hell, he can even suck a few dicks if he feels that way inclined.”

  Brooke gives me a sideways glance, clearly very curious about my blasé attitude. “You sure?” she questions before raising her coffee to her lips.

  I roll my eyes and turn to face her better. “Yes, I’m sure. Josh is just fun, and besides, in order to be anything more to him, I’d have to run around the school with a pair of pom-poms, cheering about school spirit, and that’s just not me.”

  The girls burst into laughter. “Oh, I can just see it now,” Courtney says. “You’d be the worst cheerleader.”

  “Shut up,” I laugh, swatting her shoulder. “Besides, Josh would make an awful boyfriend. He’d be super high maintenance and constantly need his ego stroked.

  “Yeah,” Brooke scoffs. “You’ll be stroking more than just his ego.”

  I break into snickers knowing just how right she is. I mean, I’ve had a crush on him for the past year, but it’s not super intense. I wouldn’t mind taking it a little further, but only if it meant something. What we’re doing now… I don’t know if it will go any further than this.

  The first warning bell sounds, telling us to get our asses to our first class and I watch in amusement as everyone scrams from the hallway. I have Brooke in my first class so we walk together as Bec and Courtney disappear the opposite way down the hallway.

  “Have you heard from your parents yet?” Brooke questions as we walk.

  “Yeah,” I tell her. “I got a text from mom last night saying they made it there safely, but that’s about it so far. I think it’s the middle of the night over there at the moment so I can’t really check in.”

  “Oh,” she sighs. “I’m sure your mom will call after school. I don’t think that woman could go long without checking in on her special little lady.”

  “Shut up,” I laugh, but again, she’s right. Mom and I are close. It’s my dad I have the differences with.

  He’s a bit of a workaholic and though he works from home, we hardly ever see him. From the second he wakes up to the moment I turn my light off at night, he’s holed up in his office. I mean, sure, he comes out every now and then to eat and mom forces him to take time off on a Sunday, but that’s about it really.

  I’m almost certain their marriage is suffering because of it, but mom is too proper to let anyone know. She’s all about the looks and living the ultimate housewife fantasy.

  I can just picture it now. Dad would be sitting at Nanna’s dining table with his head suck in his laptop while the world continues around him. Mom could be making out with some random hot Aussie right in front of him and he wouldn’t even notice.

  It goes a long way in explaining my car, you know, apart from the whole internet porn thing.

  Brooke and I file into our math class while our teacher goes about writing something up on the board. The sounds of the students’ chairs scraping across the floor is the only noise I hear for at least thirty full seconds before they all settle into their spots and pull out their notebooks.

  Mr. Miller is about to start his lesson when the door opens and Nate saunters in, not giving two shits that he’s late and the teacher is glaring at him. He walks past me and smirks as he bumps into the side of my desk and knocks over my coffee.

  My hand snaps out as I catch my coffee cup and save myself from being drenched in the yummy goodness while Nate chuckles to himself as he passes.

  “Nathaniel Ryder,” Mr. Miller calls out. “You’re late. I know it’s the first day back of your senior year, but I will not accept tardiness to my class. Your break is now over. If it happens again, you will be spending your lunch period with me.”

  I look back at Nate over my shoulder just in time to watch him salute Mr. Miller with a smirk that has Miller’s face turning an impossible shade of red. Nate then pulls out his lighter and spins it between his fingers while sliding down in his chair and paying absolutely no attention to the class. “I see,” Mr. Miller says before muttering under his breath. “You’re going to go far in life.”

  At that, Nate’s eyes snap back up to him and narrow on him, making Miller swallow back fear before turning away and getting on with the lesson. Nate notices me watching and his eyes flick over to mine. I can’t help but narrow my eyes on him before I rip them away and turn back around to face the front, unable to handle the intensity of his glare.

  The class gets underway and I somehow manage to block out the daggers that are shooting into my back and the sound of Nate repeatedly flicking the lever on his lighter.

  I don’t know why he hates me so much, but this game is getting old. It’s about time he moved on and found some other poor soul to torture.

  The bell rings and within two seconds, Nate has his bag thrown over his shoulder and is pushing out the door.

  Brooke and I follow behind and make plans to meet at our usual table for lunch before going to our next classes.

  The next few classes drag by, but I’m lucky to have Courtney in a few of them.

  By lunch, I meet the girls right where we had planned and walk up to the cafeteria for something to eat. I pick out something small, knowing that I probably won’t eat it anyway and turn to head back to my table when the head of the cheer skanks stops me in my tracks.

  “Tora,” she says while crossing her arms over her fake chest.

  “Is there something you need, Elle?” I question, knowing exactly what she’s here for.

  “As a matter of fact,” she says. “There is. You need to back off Josh. He’s not interested in you, and from one girl to another, I’m just trying to look out for you. I don’t want your little heart to get broken.”

  “Awww,” I smile, reading through her bullshit. “That’s awfully sweet of you, but you know what? I think I’ll try my luck. He’s just too cute.”

  Her expression hardens as she takes in my sarcastic tone. “You know what, Tora? I was just trying to be nice, but you don’t deserve it. Josh is our guy and you need to take your claws out of him, maybe find someone a little more your speed, say, like the janitor.”

  I grin down at the little shrimp. “Like I said,” I tell her with a wink, not able to handle some skank telling me who I can and cannot get busy with. “I’ll take my chances.”

  Elle’s eyes narrow on me. “You’ve been warned, Tora.”

  “Consider this my official ‘I don’t give a shit’,” I tell her before walking back to my table.

  I slide my tray down and fall into my spot beside Brooke. “What the hell was that?” Brooke questions as she shoves a bread roll into her mouth.

  “That was the new cheer captain trying to assert her dominance over us mere mortals,” I explain.

  “Ahhh,” Brooke nods. “She wants you to back off Josh.”

  “You got it,” I laugh before I look down at my food and push it around a little. I sit with the girls, not actually eating when I notice every single eye of the cheerleaders on me. I turn and give them a little wave before getting up and emptying my tray in the bin.

  While I’m up, I smirk to myself as I cross the room to the football table. I find Josh sitting between a group of his friends and I lean down over him while the cheerleaders narrow their eyes on me. “Hey, Josh,” I smile as I squeeze my hands into his big shoulders.

  “Hey, Tora,” he grins as his arm snakes out around my waist. He pulls me down on his lap between a wall of muscle and my arms naturally fall around his neck. I can’t help but smirk at Elle before I seal my lips on his.

  I know it’s not the greatest kiss and it’s probably never going to go anywhere with him, but knowing tha
t I can piss off Elle in the process is too good of an opportunity to pass up.

  As he pulls his lips away from mine, I grin up at him. “I’ll see you later,” I tell him before gently pressing my lips to his once more and scooting off his lap.

  He slaps my ass as I walk away and I look across at Elle while I make a show of fixing up my lip gloss. Her face is practically glowing from anger and I realize without a seed of doubt in my mind that after going against Elle’s warning, I’ve just declared war on the cheerleaders, though, I don’t really care. I’ll make out with whoever the hell I want to make out with, school politics be damned.

  Tora Roberts does not bend to the will of cheerleaders.

  As I fall back down into my seat, Brooke nudges me in the ribs. “That was a dangerous move,” she warns me.

  “I know,” I laugh. “But it was so worth it to see her face.”

  I reach for my drink bottle and tip my head back to take a drink which is when I feel it. The familiar stare of Nate Ryder. I let out a breath and turn around, and right there, making his way out of the cafeteria with his group of followers is Nate with his dark eyes piercing into mine. Knowing that he’s just watched my little performance pulls something within me, though I don’t know why and that fact alone pisses me off.

  I shake the thought from my head and pay attention to my girls. Before I know it, the end of lunch bell is ringing and we’re piling out of the cafeteria to head to our afternoon classes.

  Two hours later, I meet Brooke by her car and we get out asses out of there. It’s been a long day and I am so not in the mood to deal with any more cheerleaders, jocks, or bad boys.

  We get home and as usual, Brooke makes herself welcome as we flick on the music in my room and spend our afternoon immersed in our own world. Brooke with her phone and me with my Kindle.

  Chapter 4

  I sit back on my couch with my feet up and flick through the movie channels. It’s Thursday night and Brooke has just disappeared for the night after her mother called a billion times, requesting that she get her ass home for dinner.