Remember Kindergarten

Chapter 15

*Nini POV*

Before I know it, I find myself in the girls bathroom on the verge of hyperventilating. The air seems incredibly hot and my head is spinning. I don't know how I can be thinking right now. My mind is full of clouds.

After a while, I splash some cold water on my face and turn to leave. But as I do, I feel a string hand on my shoulder. ' EJ!, What the hell are you doing in the girls bathroom?!'

It turns out I am wrong on two fronts.

Firstly, my head is turned slightly to the right where I see a line of urinals on the wall. I can feel my face turn the brightest shade of pink at my new revelation and my hands come up to hide my cheeks as I see the second front I am wrong on.

EJ is not standing in front of me. Ricky is.

And I don't hyperventilate.

Or panic.

Or cry.

Or run away.

Instead, I pull him into the tightest hug I have ever given.

And I have no idea why.

'Woah take it easy Nini. I'd prefer to end the night with my spine intact.' He says with a struggle. I release him and hide my pink cheeks yet again.

When I look at him finally, I notice that he has a bag of ice to his face.

'What happened?' I ask. He looks at the floor nervously before he answers.

'I think Kourtney wants to handle this one.' He says, holding out his arm for me to take. I oblige and he leads me out of the bathroom and towards my friends.

'Hey, girlie. You good?' Kourtney asks as she pulls me into a hug. I return the embrace but find myself thinking that I'm not hugging her as hard as I did Ricky. And it doesn't feel the same.

I nod to her as I pull away from the hug. 'What happened?' I ask. The truth is, I can't remember anything that happened after I saw Ricky walk in with Gina. God just thinking about that gives me goose bumps.

'Well, basically, EJ was a dick when Ricky came in. You told him to play nice, but he got all defensive when he came over to us. From what I could tell, you didn't like that EJ was speaking for you and that's when you ran off into the bathroom.' Kourtney tells me. I hate the fact that I can't remember this. It was like less than five minutes ago.

'Where's EJ?' I ask, only just realising he isn't present.

'He left after Ricky punched him,' she begins. 'Before you jump to any conclusions, I just want to say that Ricky was standing up for you. After you left, EJ was being an asshole and Ricky was having none of it. EJ threw the first punch, but Ricky threw harder. EJ was knocked out for a couple second but when he woke up he just left.'

My jaw has hit the floor before she has even finished. I look around to all of my friends and they are all nodding in confirmation. Then my eyes fall on Ricky.

And I don't hyperventilate.

Or panic.

Or get angry.

Or cry.

Instead, I pull him into and even tighter hug than before.

But this time I know why.

If EJ threw the first punch when someone was sticking up for me, then I want nothing to do with him. And Ricky was the one sticking up for me.

And now I know why.

Ricky is my best friend. He has been since Kindergarten. My best friend and he always sticks up for me. He also destroys my lemonade stands but that's just part of being best friends.

I am happy. But it is too much. I can feel over a decade of memories flooding back into my mind.

And it's too much.

I need to leave.

Before I collapse.

But EJ was my ride.

So, I run.

And I run. And I run and run and run. Until I find myself on my bed and let myself go into the darkness.

-----------------

Hey,

Here is the part I promised. Sorry I haven't been updating frequently. Like I said I've got a lot on my mind with school.

Hope you enjoy this. Let me know what you think.

-olly0512