Broken Hill High (Broken Hill High #1)(9)

“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.