Chapter 1
Courtney
Bodies grind up against me as I search out my best friend’s hand. Where the hell is she? One minute we were dancing among the sweatiest bodies known to man and the next, it was as though the crowd had swallowed her. She’s just…gone.
“Brylee?” I call out over the music, hoping she hasn’t wandered off or been stolen away by some dude with a man bun. After all, she has drunk way too much to be left out on her own at a party like this. If she has wandered off, then I better start searching. Brylee has a slight habit of snooping and getting herself into trouble at parties like this.
We start our senior year on Monday morning, so this party is our final goodbye to the incredible summer we’ve just had, and hello to another year of hell.
I guess ‘hell’ is taking it too far, but when you’re a student at Broken Hill High and have guys like the Ryder brothers and skanky cheerleaders to constantly watch out for, it’s not exactly a walk in the park.
Brylee’s hand comes shooting out and latches onto my arm with her red fingernails digging into my skin. I glance back to find her silently begging me to save her from being mauled by a bunch of too drunk football players.
I grab hold of Brylee and give her a hard yank, pulling her away from the man meat before leading her out of the room and into the kitchen. “Did you see that?” Brylee howls with laughter. “Those guys were so hot.”
“Those guys were not hot,” I tell her. “They were two seconds away from offering you a gang bang.” Brylee’s brow arches in curiosity and intrigue and I shake my head. “Don’t even think about it.”
Brylee is a good girl, and not just the ‘listen in class and make sure curfew is never broken’ kind of good girl. She’s a full-on academic whiz who’s been dreaming about getting into Yale her whole life. She’s the kind of good girl who’s plan B for school is freaking Harvard. Me? I’ll be lucky if I get into community college, but if I do, I’m sure it’ll be by accident.
As we make our way into the kitchen, I find Tora and Brooke currently acquainting themselves with the drinks table and they twirl around just as we reach them. “You made it,” Brylee says, throwing her arms around Tora before doing the same with Brooke.
“Of course, we made it,” Tora laughs. “As if we’re going to miss this.”
I can’t help but agree. After all, it’s not just the back to school party, it’s also the end of summer party hosted by Josh Henderson, the hottest quarterback Broken Hill High has ever seen. Half of the girls at school have been dying for their chance to get inside this place, and the other half, well I wouldn’t be surprised if they’ve already been.
Though right now, that lucky girl just happens to be Tora. Well, sort of. Josh seems to be hitting on her at every chance he gets, but for some reason, Tora just hasn’t made the move to make it happen with him.
We continue chatting as Tora and Brooke turn back around to start pouring everyone drinks and I look over the selections. I was supposed to be the responsible one tonight, but this is my last chance to really let loose before school starts. I’m sure Brylee really wouldn’t mind if we walked back to my place instead of driving, it’s only five minutes from here.
With that decision made, I go to reach around Tora for the bottle of Midori when a big body steps in my way and plucks the cup right out of Tora’s hand. She gasps and goes to hand the guy his ass when we all look up and see who it is.
Nate Fucking Ryder.
He’s crowned the king of Broken Hill High and has been a pain in Tora’s ass since we were twelve. Nate has always gone above and beyond to prove that he can make her life a living hell, but it’s not him who has my attention.
It’s Puck Jones that steps into me, blocking me in between his tall frame and the countertop. He’s Nate’s just as fucked up best friend that I’ve been in school with since kindergarten.
Truth be told, I’m pretty damn sure I’m the only person in Broken Hill who still knows his real name. That’s just how long we’ve known each other, but I’m sure he wouldn’t remember.
Puck was the reason I didn’t run out of class in tears on my first day of kindergarten. He was the boy who could see that I was scared and took my hand. He walked in with me and sat with me the whole day, making me smile and giving me the confidence to be brave.