"nini," the girl heard someone familiar call out. nini turned around to see gina standing behind her, holding a box of doughnuts, "whats up..?"
"gina," nini quietly breathed out and gave her an awkward smile, "hey, how are you doing?"
"terrible," gina confessed, "i miss my best friend."nini didn't say anything but look at the floor. gina let out a deep breath and opened the box of doughnuts, "but.. i've never been to good with words so i'm hoping this box of your favorite food will do."
nini eyed the doughnuts and let out a small smile, "are they jelly filled..?"
"every. single. one. of. them," gina stated. the two girls smiled at each other. gina put the doughnuts down and they quickly pulled each other into a hug.
"oh god, i missed you gina," nini breathed out as she held onto her best friend tighter.
"i missed you so much, neens," gina confessed, "i'm so sorry for telling ej. i was so dumb and i never would've thought-"
"shh... it's okay," nini whispered. they finally let go of each other and the two of them had tears in their eyes, "i guess it was time everyone knew anyways, huh?"
"no.. neens. if you didn't want it out then it shouldn't have been out," gina admitted, "i'm really sorry."
"gina...it's okay," nini told the girl. nini bent down and picked up the doughnut box, "i got doughnuts now. this is all i need in life."
nini handed gina a doughnut and the two of them happily took a bite out of them as they walked across the campus. nini saw ricky looking at her from across the campus. the boy gave her a small smile and a wave. nini quickly turned away and focused on gina.
"i'm guessing you still haven't talked to ricky," gina opined out. nini rolled her eyes and nodded her head, "when are you planning on talking to him?"
"never."
"neens-"
"why should i talk to him when he's the one that messed around me?" nini explained, "ricky could talk to me all he wants as long as he apologizes first."
gina nodded her head and gave nini a smile, "good for you, neens. sticking up for yourself."
"well i got my inspiration from you," nini cooed and nudged gina, "i heard you didn't take any of ej's shit. props to you."
"where'd you hear that from?"
"well...luke and reggie are best friends," nini joked. gina threw her head back and laughed, "so you performing for the jingle ball performance tomorrow?"
gina nodded her head and smirked, "i am ... actually performing with carrie, kinda crazy, huh?"
"no fucking way," nini stated with a laugh and raised her eyebrows at gina. gina nodded her head and laughed, "you're so cool. you're literally so cool."
"shut up," gina laughed with a blush in her cheeks.
"you are!" nini cooed, "i'm your number one fan."
"well when we're both performing on the big stage, promise me i got front row tickets," gina told nini. nini nodded her head and smiled at gina.
"you could maybe even have meet and greet tickets too," nini sarcastically said. gina rolled her eyes and laughed.
"how about you? what is the amazing nini salazar-roberts preforming tomorrow," gina asked the girl as they both sat down at a bench. nini shook her head and smirked at gina, "what?"
"it's a secret."
"neens!"
"sorry, guess you gotta wait till tomorrow!"
"fine, you bet your ass ima be right there in the front row," gina remarked.
"i know you will,"nini softly said and playfully nudged gina.
+
+
"hey," nini greeted reggie and luke, "has gina gone yet?"
reggie shook his head and smiled, "no, but i think she's about to perform."
nini let out a sigh of relief and happily sat next to luke and reggie. "can you believe we're about to see carrie and gina perform together?" luke asked with a chuckle.
"don't forget alex too," reggie added in.
"dude-"
"what?" nini happily asked with a smile, "alex is performing with them?"
"it was supposed to be a surprise," luke explained to nini and smacked reggie in the side of the arm, "just act surprised when he comes on stage, okay?"
"got it," nini stated with a huge smile. nini saw julie, ricky, flynn, and red soon come in the auditorium and sit at the other side of the aisle from them.
"you think they're performing together?" luke whispered to nini as he saw her eyeing them. nini sighed and shrugged her shoulders.
"i don't know, but let's not think about that right now," nini tried to say in an unseat voice. she gave luke a reassuring smile and he gave her on back. soon enough all of the lights turned off and the music started playing.
"i'm so excited," nini squealed in her seat. as soon as she saw gina and carrie appear on the sage, nini's eyes lit up like a christmas tree.
"some may say i sound conceited," carrie sang. they all opened up the circle to reveal alex. the whole auditorium started to stand up and cheer as alex danced alongside with gina and carrie. nini staked with excitement in her seat as she saw her friends performing. the girl saw ej watching a few seats away from her with a smile on his face. his eyes were lit up as he watched gina and carrie dance. he was happy for them, nini could tell.
"when i grow up i wanna be me," gina sang with alex and carrie dancing behind her. nini screamed and jumped up and down from her seat.
"i'm my own goals just talking honestly, must of won the lottery," carrie sang.
"and no one as hot as me. stealing looks its robbery," alex sang, "everywhere i go, all eyes on me!"
"YESS ALEX!" luke cheered at the top of his lungs. soon enough the performance was over and everyone was cheering at the top of their lungs. gina immediately looked at nini and the girl blew kisses over to her best friend. alex, carrie, and gina all bowed before leaving the stage.
"that was fucking amazing," reggie cheered with happiness in his eyes. nini and luke agreed with huge smiles on their faces. luke started to put on his jacket.
"hey neens," luke started to say, "we should probably start getting ready."
"right," nini quickly said and gave reggie a hug, "gina and them should be here soon reggie!" nini and luke started to make their way backstage and saw julie and ricky making their way backstage as well. nini reached backstage fast enough to see kourtney and and ashlyn performing "wondering". gina, carrie, and alex were already at the front with reggie. nini just missed her.
"i think you're after them," nini told luke. he looked like a nervous wreck. the boy nodded his head and started going over his chords and lyrics over and over again, "hey...it's gonna be okay."
luke shook his head and let out a sigh, "this was the song julie and i started to write together but we only got the chords. what if she hates these lyrics? what if she gets mad at the song? what if she-"
"luke," nini said in a stern voice and grabbed him by the shoulders, "you're gonna be amazing. don't worry."
"nini-"
"and up next, we have luke patterson singing "perfect harmony!" everyone heard mr. mazurka announce. julie and ricky looked up from their papers and phones. they quickly looked at nini and luke with confused looks on their faces.
"perfect harmony?" ricky asked with disbelief in his voice, "no way, patterson would steal our song like that, right?"
julie shook her head and quickly walked up to luke, "luke? did you steal ricky and i's song?"
"no, i-"
"luke patterson, everybody!" mr. mazzara announced again and signaled for luke to come onto stage already.
"just listen, jules," luke softly said and gave julie a quick kiss on the cheek. he handed julie a mic and luke quickly walked onto stage, leaving julie in disbelief. nini and julie looked ta each other with awkward faces before turning away from each other. the both of them watched luke from the side.
as soon as luke started to play the guitar, julie's jaw dropped to the floor. "oh..my god," julie breathed out and stepped closer to the stage.
"step into my world.. bittersweet love story about a girl," luke sang, looking directly at julie from the stage. nini watched as julie got closer and closer onto stage. julie had tears in her eyes and she was staring at luke the whole time. nini watched as ricky watched julie with a small smile on his face. a proud smile.
"here in front of me," julie sang, walking onto the stage, "life can be so mean...but when he goes. know it doesn't leave..."
nini watched with a smile as luke and julie sang to each other. it was beautiful. somehow their lyrics mashed perfectly together, even though they've never rehearsed once."
"we come to life when we're..." julie sang.
"...in perfect harmony," luke finished for her. nini smiled and watched as they only had eyes for each other. they're so in love. they're perfect for each other. nini felt someone stand behind her and turned around to see ricky.
"they're amazing, huh?" ricky asked nini. the girl nodded her head, not keeping her eyes off of the performance.
"how did julie know what to sing?" nini asked.
"she wrote lyrics to the same exact song," ricky explained, "guess their minds are just so alike."
"guess so," nini softly said. she smiled once the performance was over and saw how tight luke hugged julie. the girl turned around and faced ricky.
"well.. i better start getting ready," nini told ricky, avoiding eye contact with him. the boy nodded his head and stepped to the side. nini started to walk away but ricky called after her.
"hey nini?" the girl stopped in her tracks and turned around to face ricky, "if it's not too much to ask... can you watch my performance? i know that's probably the last thing-"
"i'll be here," was all nini said before walking away. ricky let out a sigh of relief and smiled to himself.
"perfect."