Three days later, I was allowed out and feeling like myself again.
I decided to catch the bus into school for a change, but my plans
were changed when Nathaniel pulled out of a driveway in a rapid yellow
Ford Falcon XR6. He glanced over to where I was and pulled over to the
side of the road and turned around. He stopped in front of where I was
standing, slipping his expensive sunglasses off.
“Brianna, what are you doing out here?” Nathaniel asked when the
passenger’s window rolled down.
“Waiting for the bus so I can go to school; mum isn’t working today
and wants to do things at home so I offered to take the bus to save her
time taking me to Colac and coming back here after that. She can get
more done that way and then I’m not a bother to anyone,” I told him.
My heart became heavy after I finished speaking as that was the
way I always felt. I felt like a bother to everyone and anyone. I sighed
57
depressingly and looked up; hiding the pain I’ve been suffering from.
“No, I will take you to school,” Nathaniel said.
“I’m quite happy taking the bus, Nathaniel,” I said, being stubborn
like I usually was.
He got out of the car and walked over to where I was and grabbed
my school bag and placing it on the backseat with his. I crossed my arms
and stood my ground. I wasn’t going to let him win this battle.
“You and I both know I am not taking no for an answer so just get in
the car so we can on our way,” he said.
Narrowing my eyes at him, I realised that he played these games
better than I did.
“Fine,” I relented and got into his car.
I looked out the window and didn’t say anything when Nathaniel
drove off. I rested my head against the leather seat and sighed, watch-
ing the scenery fly past on the way to Colac. I was expecting the air in
the car to be tense, but it wasn’t. It was surprisingly comfortable.
“Why weren’t you at school for three days for?” he asked suddenly.
“I was sick,” I replied and looked over towards him.
“Why didn’t you tell me? You didn’t come to practice or music and I
waited for you after school, but nothing. I was worried in the end.”
“I thought Amylia would have told you that I left sick?” I asked, feel-
ing a strange sensation in the pit of my stomach.
“She did at the end when we were at home and Jack confirmed it
when he walked through the front door after work.”
“I’m sorry that you didn’t know. I can make it up to you, if you
want?” I suggested.
“How?” he asked.
“Come to my place after school. It seems like you live up the road
from me anyway so it won’t be far for you to travel.”
“Try around the corner. I always drive past your house and never
knew who lived in it. Now I do,” he said and glanced over at me.
“So, do you want to come around after school or not?” I asked, my
heart skipping a few beats and making me feel hopeful on the inside
from his answer.
“Are you sure that your mum won’t care?” he asked.
58
“Mum will be glad to see that I have made another friend, so she
would want to meet you.”
I didn’t realise that the whole time we were talking that we had ar-
rived in Colac. I noticed that Augusta was walking towards the school
and hit Nathaniel on the arm. He looked over to where I was looking
and rolled his eyes at her. She was trying to walk in high heels and the
shortest skirt I had ever seen.
“What the hell is she wearing?” I asked, shocked.
“That is her seduce Nathaniel clothes and to try and grab all the
boys attention at school also. When we do get to school, I want you to
meet Dakota.”
I looked at Nathaniel, unsure of what to say. I knew that I would
meet everyone in his family soon enough, but I didn’t know if today was
the right time for it. We were just at the friend’s level in our relationship
and I didn’t want to push that.
“Are you sure about that?” I asked, my voice lightly shaking.
“Brianna, I don’t know if you are feeling this also, but I feel a con-
nection to you, like a spark. You feel very special towards me and I felt
like I was going insane when you weren’t at school for those few days
and I figured out why,” he said.
I didn’t know what to say to that. “And why is that?” I finally asked.
“Wait until the fourteenth of this month.”
“You mean Valentine’s Day?” I asked.
He didn’t answer. What was so important that he had to tell me on
Valentine’s Day? Unless he had feeling’s for me and wanted to wait for
that day. When he pulled into a car park, I opened the door and got out
into the humid and muggy air.
“Let’s hope the air conditioner is working this time around,” Na-
thaniel said and grabbed our school bags.
“I hate the heat.”
“And I hate the sun.”
“Nate,” I heard a voice say behind him.
“Dakota,” he said and placed her in my seeing range.
I took a step back and looked at her. She was even more beautiful as
the rest of the Pryor’s. Her eyes were a very dark brown and her hair
59
was a light brown colour. She was dressed in expensive clothes, but all
the Pryor’s were.
“You must be Brianna,” she said and held out her hand.
“Yes I am,” I said and shook it.
“Nathaniel, you were right. She is gorgeous,” Dakota said and let go.
“I have heard that you are on Augusta’s list of lives’ to ruin.”
“I don’t know why she doesn’t like me.”
“She doesn’t like you because you have befriended Nathaniel and
she couldn’t. The only thing she cares about is wealth and beauty,
something she will never have compared to us, including you Brianna,”
Dakota said and smiled.
“Baby,” the one voice I didn’t want to hear say behind me.
I turned and closed my eyes so I wouldn’t have to look at Jason. He
pulled me in for a hug, but I tensed up and didn’t respond. I wanted him
to get his claws off me.
“I missed you,” he whispered into my ear.
“Well, I didn’t miss you,” I muttered and pulled myself out of his
embrace.
“What do you want?” Nathaniel asked Jason and placed an arm
around my waist.
Jason looked him up and down before looking over my shoulder at
Dakota, who walked over and waved at him. I looked at Nathaniel and
wrapped both arms around Nathaniel’s waist. He looked down at me
and winked, telling me that he didn’t mind the contact that we were
currently creating.
“What is going on here?” Jason asked.
“Didn’t you hear? Nathaniel and I have started dating,” I said and
looked over towards Dakota, hoping to back me up on this lie.
“And I am giving them my blessing,” she added, glancing at me.
Jason’s teeth clenched before he launched himself towards Na-
thaniel. I stepped out of the way and placed a hand on Nathaniel’s arm,
which I was currently hiding behind as he managed to throw myself be-
hind him. Dakota stood in the middle of both of them, stopping a sure
fight from happening. Jason glared at Nathaniel but didn’t do anything
as he looked over at me.
60
“I would expect better from both of you. Is that anyway to behave
in front of Brianna and myself? No I don’t think so,” she said and looked
at both of them. “Men are meant to have respect for woman.”
Jason walked away, leaving the three of us standing there and Dako-
ta glaring up towards Nathaniel.
“You are so lucky I didn’t wear my high heels today because I would
not hesitate kicking you and hurting you,” she said, her voice quiet yet,
venomous.
“What did I do? I wasn’t going to fight him and even if he tried, he
wouldn’t have won. You and I both know that I fight better than anyone
in this school,” he argued back.
I looked up at him, shocked about this new information. Was Na-
thaniel the type to pick fights or was he trained when younger so he
could know how to defend himself when someone started trouble?
“Yes, I do know that and I have seen it,” Dakota said.
“I am going to go find Hudson,” I said and grabbed my school bag off
Nathaniel.
“If Jason is planning anything, Hudson should be able to tell you as
she knows these things,” Nathaniel said before I walked away.
I looked all over the school for her, but couldn’t find her anywhere.
Was there some sort of hiding place in this school that I wasn’t aware of
or something? I suddenly heard yelling and walked over to where it was
coming from. Hudson and Jason were having a screaming match.
“What did you mean you didn’t know about Nathaniel and Bri-
anna?” Jason shouted, unaware that I was currently staring holes into
the side of his head, and was tempted to hit him.
“I told you that I had no idea that they were going out! They are
both secretive when they want to be and even if it’s true, I don’t blame
them for doing something like this! They aren’t the type that likes their
business being broadcasted all over town and that is exactly what will
happen!” Hudson yelled back.
I felt hope swell in my chest over my friend defending Nathaniel and
I, even though it was all a lie, but it still made me feel good.
“What does that mean? There is no way in hell that Nathaniel can
make her happy like I would be able to!”
61
I decided to go over to where they were and stop this before it got
out of hand. I picked up my pace when it turned to push and shove.
There was no way I wanted Hudson to get hurt from Jason. He would be
on Brandon’s wanted list, not that I would stop him from causing some
serious damage.
“Hey,” I said, but they didn’t hear me.
They started screaming over the top of each other and that’s when
it happened. I went over towards them, hoping to stop this from be-
coming worse when Jason grabbed my arm and threw me down on the
ground. I landed on my wrist the wrong way and felt a jolt of pain crawl
up my arm. I had to bite my lip to stop me from screaming out in pain.
“Brianna!” Hudson said and got down to my level. “Are you okay?”
“My wrist is killing me,” I whispered.
“I am going to find Nathaniel,” Hudson said and took a few steps
back.
“Do you think you could help me up first?” I asked, making her stop
walking.
She grabbed my good arm and pulled me up before searching for
Nathaniel. Jason stood in front of me and grabs my injured hand, for
which I stepped away from him so he couldn’t touch me again. He had
blown any chances of staying friends with me after doing this.
“You shouldn’t have gotten in the way Brianna. It is that simple,”
Jason said.
“And you shouldn’t use harm to get what you want. You are just
lucky I didn’t land on that stick and stab myself from it,” I spat and cra-
dled my wrist to my chest, hoping to ease some of the pain that was
currently burning on the inside.
“I’m sorry,” he said.
“Sorry isn’t going to cut it this time around,” I said and turned my
head the other way so I wouldn’t have to look at him.
Nathaniel came running over, leaving Hudson for dead and slowly
pulled my injured wrist from my chest and started to look at it. I hissed
when he lightly touched the area, making him freeze. A look of pure and
utter pain shot across Nathaniel’s face when he placed my wrist back
into the position I had it in.
62
“I’m not a doctor, but it looks like it’s sprained,” he whispered.
“Great that is all I need right now,” I whispered back.
Nathaniel looked over my head towards Jason, narrowing his eyes. I
didn’t know if Hudson told Nathaniel that Jason was the cause of my
pain or if she didn’t. All I knew was the fact Jason was now on his want-
ed list. Nathaniel pulled out a phone and messaged someone.
“Let’s see how it goes during the day,” Nathaniel said and led me
away from Jason.
When we turned the corner, Augusta was standing there, shooting
hateful glares into the back of Amylia as she spoke with James. Na-
thaniel crossed his arms and looked straight at Augusta. She noticed
that someone was looking at her and looked over at Nathaniel. Before
she could say anything, Amylia ran over and hugged both Nathaniel and
me.
“I just heard what happened,” she said and grabbed my injured
wrist lightly. “It would be better for you to get it checked out and make
sure that there is no major damage that we don’t know about, but it’s
up to you. We can go see Jack and see what he has to say.”
“Amylia, I just came back from being sick so I don’t think I can afford
to vanish again.”
“Nathaniel, go work your charm in the office while I wait at the car.
James!” Amylia shouted, making him run over.
“Yes, my love?” he asked, looking at her like a lovesick puppy.
“Car keys to my car please,” she said and held out her hand.
He dropped them and looked at me and towards my injured wrist.
Amylia said something under her breath, making James nod. I couldn’t
even hear what she said and he could? That was strange. It wasn’t nor-
mal and I was soon to be asking questions if it didn’t stop. My eyebrows
furrowed in confusion.
“James will tell Nathaniel that we have left and that we will be back
once we know what the matter with your wrist is. How did it happen
anyway? Nathaniel just said that you hurt it, but didn’t go into any de-
tail,” she said.
“Do you want the long or the short version?”
“The short one,” was Amylia’s reply.
63
“Jason and Hudson were having a screaming match and I went over
there to stop it from becoming worse. That’s when Jason decided to
grab my arm and throw me to the ground, making me land on my
wrist.”
“That explains why Nathaniel seemed mad about something. He
feels protective of you but he won’t tell us why,” Amylia admitted and
opened up the driver’s door and changing something over.
“He told me that he wants to tell me something on Valentine’s Day,
so I don’t know what it would be.”
“Brianna, I have to ask you this question. What do you feel for Na-
thaniel? And tell me the truth about it.”
I didn’t know how to answer that question. Nathaniel held my inter-
est on my first day here. He keeps me lying wide awake most nights,
thinking about him, trying to figure him out but couldn’t. I looked at
Amylia and saw she had a slight smile on her face.
“You have feelings for Nathaniel, but you just haven’t realised it yet
and I believe what Nathaniel wants to tell you is the same.”
“Nathaniel makes me angry, but at the same time, he makes my
heart race. Before, I tried to give Jason the hint I wasn’t interested in
him and pretended to be his girlfriend and now that I think about it, I
wish it was true,” I whispered, realising that Amylia was right. “Oh my
god, I have feelings for Nathaniel.”
She looked at me and smiled before starting the car. How could Am-
ylia figure out things before I could? I pushed it back in my mind and
decided to think about it after Nathaniel left my place after school.
“Everyone is going to think that I am getting abused at home or
something,” I said suddenly.
“If they want to get smart, they have to deal with us. And if Augusta
tries to make this any worse than it is, there is going to be trouble brew-
ing. I’m sure Hudson has told you, but she tried to break James and me
up because of her greed and desires to be wealthy and decided that
James would be a perfect target for her affections. It didn’t work and
now she is on my wanted list as well as Dakota’s for doing the same.”
“I have figured out that she isn’t happy unless she is making some-
one else’s life a living hell.”
64
“That would be true. I am just warning you now though,” Amylia
said and looked over at me when we were at the traffic lights. “She will
be worse coming up to Valentine’s Day due to the fact you have two
teenage boys’ after your affections and one of them she wants all to
herself and won’t stop unless there is bloodshed.”
“You mean Nathaniel and Jason?”
“Exactly, Brianna,” Amylia said. “She has never got that much atten-
tion off anyone in her lifetime and it would be killing her on the inside.”
My throbbing wrist took my mind off everything and I just concen-
trated on the pain I was currently in. Amylia pulled into a car park and
turned everything off. I opened the car door and got out. That same
woman from the other day caught my attention with the cold eyes and
hard stares towards me. I followed Amylia inside as I could tell that she
was in charge of this one.
“Erica, where’s Jack and I have no time for games either so tell me
now,” Amylia said to the woman that didn’t like me.
“He just went on his morning tea break and you can’t disturb him
either,” Erica said her tone like leather.
Amylia crossed her arms and looked her up and down before grab-
bing my hand and walking up to the counter. A lady turned around and
looked at both us with a smile on her face.
“Hello girls. What can I do for you?”
“Lesley, is Jack on his break?”
“Amylia, you know that he always goes on his break about now,”
she replied.
“Would I be able to see him? My friend, Brianna, injured her wrist at
school before class started and it should get looked at as she is in a lot
of pain,” Amylia said.
“You know where he is,” Lesley said and went back to work.
Amylia still had a tight grip on my hand, but it wasn’t tight enough
to cut off blood flow to the area. She stopped at the door that said ‘staff
only’ and knocked.
“I’m on my break so go away,” Jack said from inside.
“Do you want me to tell Bethany that you throw out everything that
she packs in for you most days and that you have takeaway for lunch
65
every day?” Amylia asked and the door opened.
“Shouldn’t both of you be at school?” he asked and looked between
us.
“We would be, but Jason decided to lose his temper and throw Bri-
anna to the ground and she landed on her wrist.”
I held it up and saw that it was double the size of my other one. We
were ushered into the room and sat in the chairs and I rested my wrist
on the table.
“How would you describe the pain?”
“Excruciating,” I said.
“So what happened?” he asked and looked at Amylia.
“I wasn’t there and I only found out about it through Nathaniel.”
“Jason grabbed my arm and threw me down on the ground, making
me land on my wrist the wrong way. Nathaniel said it could be sprained,
but I don’t know,” I said, looking down at it.
“Why did he throw you on the ground for?”
“He and Hudson were having a screaming match because he didn’t
like the fact Brianna was spending time with Nathaniel and not him. We
told you about Jason the other day, remember?” Amylia said, looking at
her nails.
Jack nodded and went back to looking at my wrist. When he gently
lifted it off the table, I bit my lip to stop me from crying out. The door
opened, making me look over to it and seeing Nathaniel walk into the
room.
“Did you get us excused for our first class?” Amylia asked, looking at
Nathaniel.
“Yeah I did,” he replied, but his eyes were glued on me.
“I’m fine,” I muttered, answering the question he had in his eyes.
“Nate, it’s not like Brianna is dying. You don’t have to look so con-
cerned,” Jack said, glancing towards his son.
Nathaniel nodded slowly and started to walk out of the room and I
couldn’t stop myself from crying out in pain from all the poking and
prodding at my wrist. Nathaniel froze and came over to me. Amylia
rolled her eyes and pulled out her phone. Nathaniel grabbed my good
hand and held onto it, giving me a sense of comfort. The coldness still
66
had me confused but I told myself not to worry about it. I felt that he
would open up to me when he felt that he could trust me.
“How bad is it hurting?” Nathaniel asked me.
“Bad enough to make me want to inflict the same amount of pain
on Jason when I get back to school,” I said through gritted teeth when
Jack placed it on the table.
“That can be easily sorted out,” Nathaniel muttered, a smirk appear-
ing on his face.
“You will be doing no such thing Nathaniel. James is making him suf-
fer enough today,” Amylia replied without looking up from her phone.
“What this needs is an X-ray just to see if there are any broken
bones. I can book you in for ten-thirty,” Jack said.
“That’s fine. I will take her,” Nathaniel said, not giving me a chance
to speak.
“What am I meant to do?” asked Amylia.
“Go back to school and keep tabs on Augusta for me. She is driving
me crazy again and now it’s worse coming into Valentine’s Day.”
“This is where you can fight your own battles Nathaniel,” Amylia
said and walked out of the room.
“Okay, what is her problem?” Nathaniel asked Jack.
“She has been like that all day. Hopefully Bethany can get it out of
her later on tonight,” Jack said.
Erica walked into the room and looked between all three of us be-
fore fixing her eyes on Jack. I could tell where Augusta got her hunger
for rich men from.
“Can I help you?” Jack asked and went back to his yoghurt that
looked homemade.
“You told us that no one was allowed to disturb you on your break,
so why are they in here?”
“You’re not his wife so he doesn’t have to answer to you,” Nathaniel
said and helped me up.
“Nathaniel, I suggest you go take Brianna to the X-ray as I can tell
she is in a lot of pain. I will call now and book her in and then get them
to send the X-ray here. You are very lucky I am a doctor also,” Jack said.
He nodded and shot a glare to Erica and led me out of the room.
67
When we got outside, Amylia and her car were gone and were replaced
by Nathaniel’s.
“Amylia decided to go back to school and leave us alone,” he whis-
pered into my ear, making me jump.
“How do you know that?” I asked.
“Uh, I just do,” he replied and walked two steps ahead of me.
“Nathaniel, you are acting strange and it is starting to freak me out
just a little bit, so can I have some answers?” I asked.
“Brianna, don’t worry about it,” Nathaniel said, defensively.
“You are hiding something and be prepared for me to find out what
it is. There is no way in hell that I am going to deal with your changing
moods and defensiveness,” I said and started to walk away from him.
“What about your wrist?” he asked behind me.
I stopped and looked at Nathaniel. “You can take me to that, and
then you can take me back to school.”
Making sure that my arms were by my side, I marched over to his
car and waited for him to unlock it. The car ride there, I kept my eyes
straight. Nathaniel realised that I wasn’t in a talking mood both from my
pain and from the fact he is different to me.
“Brianna, can you please talk to me?”