"Nick Jonas, Miley Cyrus, you two will be studying eating disorders and self-harm in teenagers. I expect you will all be ready to present your presentations to the class next week. Have a great weekend class." Mrs Matthews said as the bell rang and the class began to hurry out.

Was this some kind of joke? Pairing me; the shy, quite 'loser' with Nick; the popular, 'hot', jerky guy rumoured to have sex with every girl in school.

But not only that, the issues that we had to study were the ones I faced in every day life… I am anorexic or should I say bulimic? I only ever eat if I can absolutely not get out of it without someone realising that I am starving myself. In these rare occasions when I have to eat something I throw it back up as soon as I can. So, I suppose I'm 99% anorexic and 1% bulimic. Oh, I don't know but I basically starve myself and have an eating disorder. I've been starving myself for three months now and my parents haven't even noticed. Well, why would they? My mother left when I was eight and my father is never home. He disappeared four years ago when I turned eleven. He says he's this big-shot business man and he's always needed for meetings but really, how can he always be busy with his business? He only ever comes home at Christmas and my birthday. He sends my Uncle John over to check on me on the first of every month but all what he does is turn up drunk and abusive. Thankfully, he's never left any permanent damage. He has come close though. Last month he fractured my rib and I had to tell the hospital that I got into a fight. I can't tell anyone the truth. After all, if my own father doesn't believe me, then who will? So, I'm practically alone and that's why I stave myself and self-harm.

I slowly stood up and put my notebook in my bag. Walking out of the classroom door, I sighed.

"So, can I come over tonight then, Miley?" Nick said leaning against a wall and smirking at me.

I wanted to say no but I also knew I had to do this project and I desperately didn't want to go home to my empty house. I could see the clouds outside and I knew there was going to be a thunderstorm later. I hated thunderstorms. They reminded me of my Uncle thudding around the house and the force of his hits as they hit my vulnerable skin. So I said the only thing that would protect me from this,

"You can come now, if you want"

When we got to my house I opened the door and flung my bag down on the floor. I walked upstairs and into my room where my laptop lay on my bed. My dad had bought me it for my thirteenth birthday hoping that I would have friends I could talk to online. I of course, had no one.

Nick sat down on my bed and patted the space next to him,

"Come sit then" he said looking up at me.

I nervously sat down next to him, before opening up my laptop and typing my password of, imissyou in. It was a depressing password admittedly. But it was also one I would never forget.

It was my everyday thought.

"So, where do we start?" asked Nick.

"We could, erm, search obesity in teenagers?" I asked hopefully.

"What's interesting about that?" Nick asked, clueless to my nerves.

"Erm, well, everyone will be expecting to see some girl in her underwear, all skin and bones. I just thought we could mix it up a bit…" I trailed off.

"We can't skip anorexia" he stated flatly.

An hour into our research I felt dizzy and sick. I was used to this by now but with Nick here I was scared.

"Miley, are you okay? You've gone all white…" Nick asked, staring at me in worry.

"I-I'm fine, I-I just, could you get me a glass of water?" I asked weakly.

As Nick hurried downstairs to get me some water I laid down on my bed. I couldn't lie, I was starving. I wouldn't eat though; it wasn't worth the effort just to throw it up again later.

When Nick came back I sat up slowly and took the water from his outstretched hands. I drank half of it and then passed it back to him as I lay back down.

"Thank you" I mumbled.

"I'm going to stay with you until your parents come home" he said kindly.

My eyes filled with tears, "You'll be here a few months then…"

"What?" he asked, looking truly concerned.

"I can't tell you…"

"I promise you Miley, I'm not the guy everyone thinks I am. I will keep your secret." He looked into to my eyes and for some reason I instantly believed him.

"When I was eight years old my mother left and my dad disappeared when I was eleven. He comes home at Christmas and on my birthday but that's the only time I'm not here alone, unless you count my uncles monthly visits…" I thought about telling him how my uncle hurts me but we weren't even friends and I didn't know how far his trust would go.

Then instead of saying something sympathetic, he picked up his phone and dialled a number,

"Hey, mum… yeah, you?... good… yeah… well, anyway I'm sleeping at a friends tonight… no, you don't know her… it's not like that, mum… she's not well… her parents aren't home… yes, I will be… tomorrow, yeah… if not, I'll call you… I love you too, mum… bye."

He put his phone on my table and turned to me grinning,

"Looks like I'm sleeping over!"

A message to anyone who is waiting for chapter 2 of My Step Brother –

I know I should have probably wrote chapter 2 of My Step Brother before I did this but I've been wanting to write this up for a few days now! I will start on chapter 2 of My Step Brother now J thank you for the reviews on the first chapter and I hope you like Broken just as much! J