nini woke up early in the morning because today was her first day at east high.
and to say she was nervous would be an understatement.
she rushes to her closet and rummages through the clothes until landing on a white tank top and denim jeans. she also takes out a yellow jean jacket and goes to the bathroom to get herself ready
when she goes downstairs with a backpack, she sees carol in the kitchen.
"well don't you look lovely" she smiles as she serves the scrambled eggs onto nini's plate
the girl returns the smile, sitting down at the table and eating her breakfast
after about fifteen minutes carol notices that they should get going and nini nervously follows her to the car
the drive was with nini fiddling with her bracelet while looking out the window with thoughts running through her mind
'what if no one likes me?
what if i see ricky
will i make any real friends?'
nini sees the crowded high school and can't help but feel a tint of excitement inside.
'vanessa hudgens and zac efron walked in those halls!!'
"alright honey, you're going to be fine remember that." carol smiles reassuringly
nini takes a deep breath and nods before opening the car door and walking towards the school entrance
a crowd of people surrounded her but it was different. they were fans and nini loved meeting fans.
plus, she was very thankful at the fact that they only wanted a picture or autograph and then left her alone.
***
ricky and big red laugh as they skate their way to school and when they arrive, they see a bunch of excited people crowding around something or someone.
the curly-haired boy squints his eyes curiously but quickly rolls them when he sees it was the one person he didn't want to see again
"is that-"
"yep." he answers his friend
ricky scoffs lightly when he sees the crowd dispersing and she looks up for their eyes to meet
he forces himself to tear his eyes away from her, pushing the positive thoughts he had for her at the back of his mind and tapping big red on the shoulder to leave
nini exhales deeply and watches the boy she once loved and was her best friend walk away.
she looks at the doors, mentally preparing herself to head inside before her feet oblige.
nini gasps in awe at the hallways. many people wouldn't care, but she loved east high's pride and spirit.
she already had her schedules, books and map so she tries to navigate her way to her locker, which was a lot easier said than done
"stupid maps." she mutters under her breath "why didn't i pay attention in seventh grade geography?!"
after a few minutes, she looks up to see the same locker number written on her paper and sighs in relief before trying to open the locker with the combo
but it doesn't budge
"are you serious right now?" she groans, pulling harder at the locker
"need help?"
nini jumps at the familiar voice and turns around to see -
"oh my gosh kourtney!" nini squeals, pulling her in for a hug
"in the flesh!" she laughs
"i missed you so much!"
"me too girl."
"how's everything and everyone?" nini asks trying to open her locker, instead, stumbling back in annoyance
"their good and do you need help?" kourtney laughs
nini looks at the locker "this stupid thing is against me."
kourtney shakes her head and jams her fist at it, making a loud crash sound and opens it with ease
nini's jaw is dropped and she shakes her head "i'm going to keep that trick in mind."
they both laugh and kourtney leans against the locker next to nini's
"so, i heard that you saw him." kourtney says bluntly
nini takes a deep breath as she takes the books she needed for the first two periods and nods
"he didn't know you were coming back." she explains
nini looks at her confused
"he - he sort of doesn't follow any accounts that has to do with you..." she explains
the brunette nods solemnly and closes the locker
"i deserve it i guess."
the two girls walk through the halls to their first class together, catching up on everything.
the two classes for nini were quite normal. and she loved it.
everyone acted normally with her and the teachers treated her like any other student
at lunch, nini walks out and tries to look for the cafeteria.
she keeps her head down looking at the map with her phone in her other hand.
suddenly she bumps into someone hard causing her to drop her map and phone. the two instantly bend down to pick them up
"oh crap i'm so sorry-."
nini and ricky freeze and stand upright to see each other
the boy looks at her and gives her the phone
"th-thanks."
"yeah." he says before walking past her
"d-do you know where the cafeteria is?" she asks in her vague british accent.
ricky forced himself to not think about how much he loved it when she talked like that as he silently walks back to her and takes the map out of her hands
nini's eyes shift down to his finger and she notices him wearing a ring. the exact ring.
flashback
"happy happy happy birthday!" nini squeals as she jumps into her boyfriend's arms
ricky laughs and puts her back down "you're more excited than i am."
"you're fourteen! how does it feel?" she asks him
"it feels the exact same. except now i can spend the year with an amazing girlfriend." he smirks
nini blushes as she looks down to the floor and fiddles with her charm bracelet
"do you like the charm? i'm so sorry about not getting you more than one it's just that-"
"ricky it's perfect." she smiles "but now it's my turn to dominate the gift-giving competition!" she exclaims as she takes out a small paper bag decorated in skateboard stickers
ricky raises his eyebrows intrigued and takes the bag from her, taking out a small box
"what's this?" he asks her
"open it." she giggles
"what?" he laughs as he opens the lid and sees a ring inside
he notices something engraved on the inside and tilts it
"my skater boy" he reads out loud ricky looks at her and laughs "that's- wow."
she continues to giggle and he puts it on his finger
"i'm a guy who wear rings now. apparently."
"yeah." she laughs
he leans in to give her a quick kiss and smiles "i will never take this off. i promise"
"just like i promise to never take this off." she smiles, showing her wrist
end of flashback
"you can stop making a big deal about me wearing this."
nini snaps herself out of her thoughts to see ricky looking at her with the map still in his hands
"uh-i-"
"i'm wearing it because i keep my promises," he says "unlike some people." he mutters under his breath
nini opens her mouth in slight shock and takes the map from his hands
"two right turns, then a left and your there." he tells her as he walks past her.
nini watches him walk away and takes a deep breath, forcing herself not to let him affect her. she knew that he was hurt, and she knew that he had a right to act like that. which is why she just chose to swallow it all and keep going.