the exception

4. nothing in common

The bell rings after what feels like a million years. I get up, slinging my backpack over my shoulder, and walk towards my locker.

"Yo Bowen", I hear somebody call out.

I turn around and see EJ, Red, and Gina approaching me.

"Wassup", I say, fist bumping them all.

"Nothing much. You tryna go get some dinner tonight?", EJ asks.

I sigh, "Can't. Nina's coming over."

They all give me weird looks so I give them one back.

"Don't tell me you're already hitting on her...", Gina chuckles.

"Uh...that I can assure you is a big fat no. I hate that girl. It's for the project remember?"

They all nod their heads, "Right..."

{After school}

Nina's pov

I park outside of Ricky's house and sit there in silence, just...mentally preparing. I have no idea how this is gonna go and I'm preparing for the worst, considering we both hate each other. I get out and grab my backpack, walking up to the door. I take a deep breath before my knuckles meet the door and I knock a few times. A couple seconds later a tall woman with brown hair opens the door with a smile on her face.

"Hi! You must be..."

"Nina.", I answer, smiling.

"Ah, yes Nina! I'm Ricky's mom, Lynne, come inside!", she smiles, opening the door wider.

I smile as a 'thanks' and walk through the door. My eyes widen a little as I get taken aback by how neat and perfect the inside looks. I mean...the outside was like that too...but I guess I wasn't expecting it for how 'bad boy style' Ricky was. But it all makes sense...Ricky's a popular kid and his parents are rich.

"Ricky's in his bedroom. You can go upstairs. It's the first door to the left.", Lynne informs me, smiling.

"Okay, thank you.", I quietly say.

I walk up the stairs and run my hands along the railing, amazed at how beautiful their house was. I must've gotten lost in a trance because the next thing I knew was that I bumped into somebody and had fallen to the floor.

Doing great so far.

"Nina?", I hear a voice say.

I awkwardly look up at the curly haired boy, "Hey there..."

"When'd you get here?", he asks, scrunching his brows.

"Oh, uh just a second ago...your uh your mom let me in.", I stutter.

Why am I so nervous? Quit it, Nina. Get it together.

I stand up, straightening out my clothes before I look back at Ricky.

"So, uh...you wanna work on the project?", I ask, breaking the awkward silence.

"Y-yeah sure. We can go in my room."

I follow him into the door and oh my gosh. When I tell you this kid's room is like the size of my entire house...I mean it. I stand in the doorway, jaw open, eyes wide, just blankly staring at the giant space.

"Uh yo...Nini?", he says, breaking me out of my trance.

"Oh, it's Nina. And, yes?", I say.

"You coming in...or..."

"Oh right, yes. Sorry.", I awkwardly reply, walking in and shutting his bedroom door behind me.

I take a seat at another chair in front of his desk as I unzip my bag and take my notebook out.

"Okay so...the directions say...find something you and your partner have in common then create something to represent it. It can be a poster, video, or anything that comes to mind.", I read aloud.

I turn to my side to see Ricky on his phone. I slap it out of his hands and give him a stern look.

"Are you even listening!", I exclaim.

"Yeah, yeah whatever sure.", he shrugs.

I roll my eyes, "So, what do you like to do?"

He sighs, "Sleep...eat...sleep again."

I take a deep breath to control the fuming anger inside of me, "We can't do eating or sleeping"

"Why not?"

"Because that's boring and we're gonna fail the project.", I reply, trying to make it sound as obvious as it was.

"Who cares if we fail it?", he asks.

"Uh...I do! I know we hate each other but can you work with me here! It's a partner project for a reason!", I say firmly.

"Dang you're one bossy child", he mutters.

I completely heard him. And he's, once again, very lucky he's not meeting my fist. I sigh and look back down at the paper, scanning over the directions.

"Okay...do you like to draw?", I ask.

"No"

"How about...hiking?"

"No"

"The beach?"

"Still no"

"Then what do you like?!", I raise my voice out of anger.

"Oh, so you're bossy and feisty too now?", he asks. It was clear he knew I was getting upset...and being the stupid person, he is...he purposefully is pushing my buttons.

I glare, "You really don't want to go there."

"What if I do?", he challenges.

"Ricky! Just shut up and help me!", I let out an angry breath.

He rolls his eyes as he scoots his chair up to the desk, skimming over the instructions.

"Do you like...skating?", he asks.

"What? No?", I reply.

Ricky's pov

It's been two and a half hours of me and Nina just sitting here arguing over what to do. I'm already tired of her and the project.

I let out a giant sigh, "What are we even doing?"

"I don't know, you tell me! I'm the only one trying to do this here.", she claps back.

She really has something sassy to say every single time, doesn't she? I don't think I've ever met somebody as bossy and sassy as her. Like...she doesn't have to be. She needs to chill out here.

"Hey! I've given ideas, thank you very much.", I roll my eyes.

"Yeah! Terrible ideas!", she scoffs, "Whatever, we'll work on it tomorrow. We have three weeks so...think about something and text me."

I watch as she packs her stuff up and walks straight out of my bedroom door. Not even a goodbye? Dang. I pick up the project directions once more and reread them.

"What sorta project is this?", I whisper to myself.

Me...and the girl I hate most...are not gonna have anything in common.

At least that's what they both thought. Turns out they're both wrong...it's just gonna take some time for them to realize it...