24. rise above

3.1K 113 150
                                    

nini walked out of the school entrance, her bag over her shoulder as she tried to quickly make her way towards her house before her friends could stop her and try to convince her to go shopping for a homecoming dress.

"hey, nini!"

she turned around and saw oliver walking towards her with a smile as he approached her

"oh, hey,"

"what's up?" he asked

nini shrugged her shoulders "not much. how was your first day at east high?"

oliver chuckled at her dramatic voice and nodded "pretty good. i met this guy in my english class who was cool,"

nini faked a hurt expression "and here i thought i was going to be your best and only friend here,"

oliver laughed before nini noticed her friends arriving towards her

"there you are!" gina exclaimed before looking at oliver and raising her eyebrows "oh! hi,"

"i'm oliver," he says, holding his hand out to the girl as she took it and he smiled at the others

"uh-i'm-gina," the girl replied before clearing her throat "you're british."

oliver nodded with a light chuckle "yup."

nini raised her eyebrows before taking a deep breath "alright, well, that's gina as you know, this is ashlyn, carlos, seb, ej, kourtney and big red."

"cool name," oliver grinned

big red smiled "thanks dude!"

"so, nini, we were thinking about how you kept saying no to go shopping-"

"guys we're not going over this again," nini sighed as she folded her arms

"but you need a homecoming dress!" kourtney pleaded

"i'm not going to homecoming!" nini exclaimed

"why not?" oliver asked confused

"i like him!" ej beamed, making the brown-haired chuckle

"i just-i don't-i'm not talking about this." nini breathed as she adjusted the strap of her bag "i have to get home,"

the group sighed as nini ran off, oliver looking at the others in confusion

"is she okay?" he asked

"it's a very long and sort-of complicated story," seb says

nini sat on the swing of her front porch looking through her notebook of songs as she tried to come up with something to write.

she took a deep breath and looked up to see oliver walking down the sidewalk and taking notice of her

"are you following me?" nini asked with a playful eyebrow raised

oliver chuckled "i live a few houses away for your information,"

nini smiled "that's cool."

oliver took a deep breath and made his way up the steps and sat next to her "so, you don't want to go to homecoming..."

nini shook her head "nope."

"can i ask if this is about a certain person..?"

she glanced up at him before looking back down at her book "nope."

oliver shook his head "you're a terrible liar."

"i'm not lying." she tells him, looking up at the boy

"you're over-pronouncing your words. people do that when they lie." he says

"i don't over-pronounce my words." she replied, doing the exact opposite than what she stated

oliver raised his eyebrows and nini groaned in frustration

"you're annoying." she mumbled

the boy chuckled "look, it might not be my place, i don't know everything about what happened, but from what i can tell, you like him."

"i don't like him. it was a spur of the moment thing." nini defended, keeping her eyes on her notebook as she flipped the pages

"yes, and i'm a total american." he said sarcastically

she sighed and leaned back "he's a total jerk."

oliver nodded "i don't know him but i'll take your word for it."

nini cracked a small smile before she folded her arms "we were...something? i think?" she began "i mean, we weren't official or anything and it was all a secret for a while, but-i thought he-that he liked me...but-uh-then he kissed another girl at this party, and we sort of hate each other's guts which makes it so much better."

oliver looked at her with a small frown "that sucks."

she took a deep breath and shrugged her shoulders "i'm over it now."

oliver shook his head "no you're not. i wouldn't be,"

nini looked back at him and exhaled "he's just-he's so frustrating! and confusing-he acted like he felt the same way, then he goes and kiss lily of all people and he doesn't seem like he cares anymore seeing as he loves the attention of all the other girls."

oliver stayed quiet for a few seconds before taking a deep breath "well, you could go one of two ways: you could let a stupid guy ruin your fun in life," he begins "or you could have fun and rise above."

nini raised her eyebrows "did you come out of a fortune cookie?"

oliver shook his head with a smile while nini chuckled lightly and took a deep breath

"i guess...you may be kind of right." she muttered

"i'm always right." he said proudly

nini smiled "thanks."

oliver returned the gesture before standing up and sighing "right, i have to get home, but i'll see you tomorrow."

she nodded and waved as he walked away, nini's smile soon fading when she caught sight of the curly-haired boy arriving at the house across the street.

she felt her heart drop as he entered it without noticing her and she grabbed her phone hesitantly.

oliver's words were in her brain and she took a deep breath as she texted the girls saying how she was going to come with them to go shopping for a homecoming dress.

stolen kiss || rini auWhere stories live. Discover now