*spoilers in description! please read the first two books before reading this one!!!*
"𝙩𝙖𝙡𝙠 𝙩𝙤 𝙢𝙚."
"𝙞 𝙘𝙖𝙣'𝙩!"
ricky and nini have had their ups and downs this past year and a half, but as they finally think they have their happy endin...
nini pulled down the sleeves of her grey sweatshirt over her hands, wincing in pain as she bumped into the wall with her forearm.
it had been two days since her meeting with noah and she couldn't distance herself from ricky and the others, at least not so quickly. but noah didn't care.
he said there would be consequences and he went through with them. it was nini's turn to close up the café last night and he didn't waste time to hurt her.
she hated this. having to deal with him again. though, she was at least thankful that she was lucky enough for him not to hurt her too much since a noise interrupted them and her only having to deal with bruises on her right arm.
when nini came down the stairs, she heard aria and jacob in the kitchen and saw carol and dana in the living room with their suitcases.
"morning hun!" carol exclaimed with a small smile as she made her way towards her, giving her a kiss.
nini took a deep breath "morning." she mumbles
"there's breakfast ready for you, our flight is this afternoon and we won't see you after school-"
"i'm not hungry." the girl interrupted, dana and carol stopping as they looked at her
"you alright?" dana asks
nina swallowed and nodded "yeah. of course. just-tired..."
dana and carol nodded slowly as they gave their daughter a hug goodbye and made their way towards the living room to continue packing while aria and jacob emerged from the kitchen.
"hey, you wanna eat quick ari's driving so we're going to be about twenty minutes late," jacob smirks
aria rolls her eyes as the boy laughed but nini kept a straight face and took a short breath
"um-i'm not hungry. i'll walk to school." she says quietly, aria and jacob looking at her in confusion as they quickly followed her out of the house.
"are you okay?" aria asks her
"yup." nini replied shortly, hugging her hoodie closer to her as she folded her arms tightly and walked down the sidewalk.
"o-okay then we'll see you at school?" aria exclaims after her
nini closed her eyes tightly as she took a shaky breath and forced herself to stay quiet, continuing her way down the sidewalk alone.
as she turned a corner, she sighed at the sight of noah leaning back against the wall of the building.
"smart of you to walk to school," he says, pushing himself off of the wall and making his way towards her
nini stopped walking and looked away from him "are you following me now?"
"i have to make sure you keep to the deal don't i?" he reminds her with a smirk
nini shuffled uncomfortably in her space as she started to walk past him, but he followed her.
"so, since we're going to be spending some...time together," he grinned, nini's insides turning as she kept her focus in front of her and continued walking
"what's changed about you?" he asks
nini stayed silent as he sighed
"okay, so we're back to the thirteen-year old girl who doesn't speak, guess we'll have to-"
nini stopped abruptly and swiftly turned around to face him, glaring at him at the thought of what he was going to finish that sentence with.
"oh i pushed a nerve!" he chuckled evilly
"i might be agreeing to this deal," nini snapped, anger fueling around her "but i'm not letting you use me like you did years ago. hit me, punch me, kick me, i can take those things and deal with the pain. but toying with me and manipulating me like you used to is not something i'm going to deal with anymore."
noah looked at her for a few seconds and smirked, leaning in closer to her as nini froze
"we'll see about that." he whispers before looking up to see that they were at the east high school, nini turning around and swallowing nervously as the two made their way towards it.
*
ricky arrived to school with his backpack over his shoulder, arriving towards the lockers in the main hallway to see his friends all around aria's locker, but nini wasn't there.
"hey guys,"
everyone stopped talking and looked at him
"oh-hey ricky..." aria said hesitantly
"what's up?" he asks, noticing the slight tension around them.
"uh-"
ashlyn gets cut off when the group all look behind them to see nini walking into the school with noah next to her, ricky looking back and feeling confusion fill him.
"who's that?" ricky asks
"i think a friend?" jacob says hesitantly
ricky quickly turned back at them "wait-you don't know him? she didn't ride with you guys-?"
aria and jacob both shook their head and ricky nodded slowly before looking back once again, his eyes meeting nini's before she quickly looked away.
she seemed off.
he knitted his eyebrows together in confusion as she made her way into another hallway and completely ignored her friends, noah following her.
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