Broken Read Online Free PDF Page A

while you’re in another world.’
    I swing my head round and stare.
    Grimacing and lifting his shoulders, he says sheepishly, ‘Not helping?’
    ‘Not helping.’
    We travel down Mountain Way in silence after that. It seems to take too long to get to school even though Jordan speeds all the way into the last vacant car-parking spot on the hill. His phone beeps and he checks the message. ‘Danny wants to know where we are. He says we have, like, two minutes before they lock the doors.’
    We run to the auditorium and find Mrs Jessop closing the entrance door. She shakes her head as she marks off our names, then makes Jordan wait while she walks me to my allocated desk.
    All of Year Eleven is sitting in alphabetical order in rows that cover half the floor space. They fiddle with their pencils while they wait, until they spot the latecomers, then all eyes zoom first to me, then to Jordan at the door. Whispers quickly turn into a soft roar that follows me until Mr Crawford, standing out front, tells everyone to be quiet.
    As usual my seat is in the row directly in front of Amber. Her warm smile is a welcome sight. She looks up, expecting me to smile back, but my attempt is pathetic and she mouths, ‘What happened?’
    Mr Crawford lays an exam booklet face down in front of me. When he walks away, I lean back in my chair, so glad that I’ve been keeping Amber informed on everything. ‘Nathaniel had to return to Avena for a week.’
    ‘Why?’ she whispers back.
    Mr Crawford spins round with his pen pointing at us. ‘No talking, girls, or I’ll separate you.’
    ‘Tell you after,’ I mouth the words.
    A tap on my shoulder a few seconds later makes me jump, but it’s just Jordan following Mrs Jessop to his front-row seat. He gives me a wink as he passes and the connection we share, the bond Nathaneal says we will always have between us, hums stronger than ever.
    Two hours and ten minutes later Mr Crawford calls for pens down. Buzzing voices instantly fill the auditorium. Keen for details of Nathaneal’s abrupt departure, Amber drags me to the front desk to hand in our papers. On our way outside we pass Jordan frowning at his cover sheet while holding a pencil above it. ‘Hey, moron,’ she says, teasing him with the sarcasm she seems to store up just for him. ‘Are you just getting started? Got news for you, time’s up.’
    He scrawls his Student Number in the appropriate boxes and smirks at her, then whispers to me, ‘Meet you outside.’
    But when he joins us outside his mind appears to be elsewhere, his eyes flickering through the crowds of other students filtering out.
    At first I think he’s watching for his best friend Danny, who’s been hanging around with us at lunchtimes lately, but when Danny arrives, joking about the exam being a ‘piece of cake’, Jordan continues to look around.
    ‘Obviously, you smashed it, Danny,’ Amber remarks dryly.
    Sophie joins us then and, having heard Danny’s cocky remark, adds her own cheeky comment: ‘He should! He could easily do a higher level. He’s just too lazy to do the extra work!’
    A few strands of Sophie’s silky blonde hair fall loose, so she pulls all her hair free, ruffles her fingers through it to spring the curls back up, and then re-ties it as our school rules dictate.
    Sophie’s not trying to be glamorous or sexy. She just is. No matter how she dresses or does her make-up, Sophie is just one of those girls who have that ‘something’ that makes heads turn everywhere she goes.
    Apparently, even Jordan’s! How have I not seen this before?
    Since Sophie joined us out here, Jordan’s eyes seem to have stopped wandering. They’re glued to her! But then, so are Danny’s. And, looking around, a few other guys are watching her too.
    Seriously, though, a girlfriend is exactly what Jordan needs. I’ve never tried my hand at matchmaking before, but if Sophie likes Jordan as much as he seems taken by her, who knows?
    Finding out will be my first