To put it simply, Nini Salazar-Roberts was not a fan of Richard Bowens. He and Nini had been in the same class for over a decade and her dislike came all the way back to second grade, where the young boy had stolen her favorite toy right from under her nose. She was a bitter girl, she admitted it, and she knew how to hold grudges which is why, after all this time, she still very much loathed the boy. Every move he did seemed to only have the purpose of annoying her, and the strategy was mutual. She signed up for the drama club right after he agreed to help with the lights. His countermove was to ask Gina for her schedule and to ask the counselor to give him the exact same classes. They were pretty much stuck with each other all the time, and they had been that way for now three years.
She had to admit that Richard was becoming prettier as time went by, which made it very difficult for her to continue being mad at him. She was the kind of girl who was attracted to every single human being and turned to mush every time one tried to talk to her.
This trait was sadly what caused her downfall. Actually, a certain E.J Caswell, an honorary member of the drama club, was the cause of her downfall. She had spent so much time in her bedroom, crying her heart out until she felt there were no more tears for her to cry anymore. Carlos, Kourtney, and even Seb all tried to come talk to her at some point or another, but she still remained firmly confined.
The most surprising turn of event in all of this was what got her out of her room: the unwanted presence of Richard Bowens. He came three days straight, sitting on the other side of the door, talking to her about nothing and everything at once. The day he finally left, she dragged her sorry soul out of the room and talked to her moms.
Some might say that she was now beholden to him. She had a very different opinion. What he did scared her more than she would admit, so she condemned him to a lifetime of silence from her person. Which was not the smartest or even most reasonable move, but it was the one she chose.
It meant that in every class, and even at drama club, she would sit as far as she could from him and shoot him dirty looks when he even came close. It was not well received on Richard's part, which meant that he ignored her in return.
And it had been that way for the past six months.
However, this decision was much more complicated than before, due to the arrival of her now best friend Gina Porter in her life. For some reason, the other girl had decided to become friends with Richard when she came to town four months ago. Something Nini would never understand, but she respected Gina's decisions. It just made it a lot more difficult for her to ignore the curly-haired boy, but she managed it.
Which is why she acted so surprised when the boy decided to come talk to her one day before rehearsal. "Hey Nini, how are you doing?", he asked, whilst throwing on his coat.
She, very politely, ignored him.
"Nini? Hey?"
"Yes, hi, I heard you the first time Richard"
Alright, she was not proud of how she treated other people sometimes.
"You know you can call me Ricky, right? I think I've told you like a billion times now."
"I gotta admit Richard is a horrible name. Sounds like a grandfather's name to me if I've ever heard one."
"Oh Nini, always the sweetest one to talk to. Anyways, I just wanted to inform you that Gina will be giving me a ride too after rehearsals now"
Now this, this crossed a line. She could act polite around him for rehearsals, but an entire ride? She wasn't sure she'd be able to manage it.
She groaned loudly, turning her head around to snap at him.
"Really? You can't drive or something? Go ask big Red, I just don't want you sitting next to me for fifteen minutes"
He sighed loudly before answering tiredly.
"Look, Nini, I wouldn't be doing this if I had a choice. Now, if you could just suck up your pettiness for a moment and realize that your opinion does not matter in this case, I'd be grateful."
A moment passed. Nini had never heard him speak that way to anyone before and frankly, she was a little frightened.
"Sorry, I didn't mean to snap at you like that. I'm just so tired of everything. Anyway, it doesn't matter. See you later, I guess"
"It's my fault, I'm sorry Richard. I was rude. I will. See you later, I mean. Gina is usually at the front entrance at 5 PM. Be there."
Rehearsal was pretty uneventful, but the simple act of going to one made Nini's heart want to explode. She'd never felt this kind of love and passion for something before, not even for E.J. Which was, very probably, why they broke up. That and the fact that he never stopped being jealous of Bowens for no reason. If there were a guy for which he didn't need to worry about, it was Richard.
She stopped for a moment after the rehearsal to pack up her things and to sit on the piano bench for a little bit. She was so tired, she thought. She told herself that closing her eyes for one minute would not hurt anyone. Which is how she found herself falling asleep curled up in a little ball on the bench.
Before she knew it, it was 4:59 and she was running to the main entrance. Gina Porter was never late and hated when Nina was, so the young girl was running across school, her ukulele balanced in one hand and her backpack in another.
When she opened the door to the passenger seat, she noticed Carlos sitting in her usual spot. Sending Gina a confused look, the two simply explained that Seb was held up and could not drive Carlos to his house.
This forced Nini to go to the back seat. She didn't have the strength to argue with him, so she just sat peacefully beside Richard. She just felt so exhausted. She didn't feel like fighting the sleep that threatened to overcome her. As she felt herself dozing off, she posed her head on the closest thing she could find and closed her eyes.
She woke up at the sound of many people talking very loudly in her direction. She was so comfortable she did not want to move. However, as she opened her eyes, she realized that her head didn't seem to be on a body part that belonged to her. She jumped so suddenly from her previous spot that she seemed to scare Gina.
Moving her head to the left, she realized with horror that her head was on Bowens' shoulder. He looked at her with a smirk that made Nini blush and smile shyly. She felt her cheeks become pink.
This was not like her. She was never impressed by guys, especially by the one sitting to the left, but she couldn't deny that him staring had her feeling some kind of way. It all kind of made sense to her. Maybe her anger hid something more, something deeper that made her act, sadly, like a six-year-old.
This realization is probably what made her go over to Ricky's side and kiss gently his cheek, petting the other one gently with her hand.
"Thanks, Ricky"
