ricky and nini's realizations

chapter 10

general pov

after school let's out, nini heads home to drop her book bag at home. she then heads to ricky's house to eat an early dinner with him and his dad before the game tonight. they figure that she'll be too tired to hang out tonight by the time the game is over from all of her cheering today. but it's friday, which means they want to spend at least some time together tonight.

nini's pov

i pull into ricky's driveway next to mike's truck and walk up to his door. i give it a short knock knowing that they're already expecting me to come over. ricky's bright smile opens the door, "so glad you could join us," he says with complete sarcasm resulting in my laughing and walking past him as i shove his shoulder. "hey!," i tell mike as i walk into their kitchen. "hey nini. how was the assembly today?" he asks me. "it was good. thanks for asking. i got ricky to participate in the assembly today. shocker i know," i say as i look towards ricky. mike responds, "no way. that must've taken a lot of convincing." he keeps talking. a bit more as ricky and i take a seat. he brings us our plates of food. we continue chatting until we're done eating. mike wishes me luck at the game tonight after i told him that i'm performing a new stunt tonight that i've been working on with my stunt group. he ends up going outside to do some yard work in the backyard. ricky and i move over to the living where we just watch tv and talk about different things. eventually it reaches 5:45pm signaling that i need to leave in order to be at the field by 6pm. cheerleaders and football players have to be at the stadium an hour before the game starts.

ricky's pov

similar to this morning's assembly, i walk into the stadium with big red and ej to the sound of the marching band playing. we don't join the student section that cheers all throughout the game this time. i just want to watch nini cheer. i mean the cheerleaders. i wanna see all of them and gina! plus ej gets really into the games and wants a seat on the bleachers where he can see the field without being blocked by people and big red just just goes with the flow. we decide to sit directly in front of the cheerleaders which ends up being the center of the east high school portion of the bleachers. the rest is room for the opposing team's school. i know the game is about to start when the cheerleaders begin to form a tunnel holding their poms above their heads. the football boys coming running through the tunnel made of cheerleaders while the band plays our fight song. the student section is chanting and the friday night lights begin to brighten as the sun sets.

general pov

in the first play of the game, the ball is thrown yards down the field to greyson. he catches it flawlessly and runs to the end field scoring the first touch down of the night. the crowd goes wild and nini cheers for him. she's facing the field and sees greyson turn to the direction of the crowd that nini's in front of. he points at nini exactly. and nini waves back at him with her poms in her hands and a huge smile on her face. ricky's close watch on nini all night ensures that he sees this moment between them. it truly bothers him and he doesn't know why it does so much. he shrugs it off and starts up a conversation with ej about the game itself. of course ej just talks about how impressed he is by greyson's football abilities. not exactly the conversation ricky was looking for, but continues it anyway. he was mostly zoning out focusing in on nini cheering.

nini's pov

it's now halftime. the boys run off of the field into the locker room, while us cheerleaders get ready to jog out onto the field for our halftime performance. i turn to look at ricky for reassurance because i'm nervous about my new stunt. he understands my facial expression completely when we lock eyes and he gives me a thumbs up. i then turn around to follow the girls to the field. i never get nervous to perform in front of the school, but there's a huge chance of me falling in front of everybody. i'd be hurt and embarrassed. i just force myself to stop thinking about it when i hear the music start and do the dance that we've practiced a bunch of times.

ricky's pov

not gonna lie. nini being nervous about this stunt makes me a little nervous because she's always confident about them. so i'm guessing it's probably really difficult. this leads me to think about how it's probably dangerous if it's that hard. i rub my hands together from the cold night air, but more from my nerves of anticipation as the girls get into their positions. their music comes on and nini looks flawless. i see all the cheerleaders move to one another for stunt formations. my heart starts beating faster. i see nini's small body go straight up into the air faster than i've ever seen. i think she told me it's called a 'full'. she goes back down for just a second and gets thrown back up entirely into the air. in this exact moment i feel my heart stop completely. i can't pull my eyes away to stop looking. then her whole body twists in the air where the other girls catch her on the ground safely. i let out the biggest breath i didn't know i was holding. big red turns to me shaking me by the shoulder, "holy crap! did you see her!" i just keep watching them as their performance comes to an end. right as the music stops the student section screams like crazy for the girls and everyone else applauds. they come running off and now they have the rest of half time to take a break before third quarter starts.

general pov

nini is ecstatic that she pulled off the stunt for the first time ever. she's never done a full twist down or a show n go. she quickly jogs up the bleachers to her three friends, "AHH guys!" "nini!" ricky says moving over so she has a spot to sit next to him. she sits in between him and ej. ej tells her, "nini that was awesome. i don't know how you do that." "yeah me neither to be honest. i'm just glad it's over and that i was able to do it," she says with a breath of relief after. big red adds, "i'm just gonna say it. i thought you were gonna die." "red!" ricky says. but nini laughs, "haha me too." ricky tells her, "you did really good, but you did scare me a little." "awe you actually were worried about me," nini teases him ruffling his curls. big red nudges him with a smirk. ricky gives red a dirty 'shut up' look that nini can't see. "no, i wasn't worried nina. i just didn't want you to fall and hurt the other cheerleaders," he says straightening his posture. she just squints her eyes slightly and nods her head slowly, "mhmm okay richard, " nini continues, "well i've gotta go back. see you boys after the game?" they all nod their heads yes. with that, she goes back to her team.