angels like you (rini au)

S E V E N T E E N

~chapter seventeen~

Nini zipped up her bag as she stood at the entrance of the Cocoa Bean Café, feeling hesitant about showing up. This whole friendship thing was a new and confusing concept to her. Before, she never used to have someone to sit with at lunch, or someone to meet up with outside school. It was weird that those people were now the same people who essentially ran the school.

What business did she have hanging up out with popular kids? She had been receiving a few points and stares in the hallways recently, but they were different than usual. Normally, the stares would say ugh, she's so weird but when she was walking beside Ricky, EJ or Gina, people would usually point to say something along the lines of what is she doing with them?

Being friends with a popular girl was hard work for her. She found herself questioning her outfits, which she'd never done before. But she knew her own image would affect Gina's, which she didn't want to happen. She also considered rummaging through her mom's makeup kit for some finishing touches, but she was completely clueless about anything to do with makeup and fashion.

"Are you gonna come in or just stand there?"

She snapped herself out of her daze and looked in through the glass door of the café, and saw Gina wiping down the tables in the café. She smiled nervously, before pushing the door open. The jingling of the instruments above her head rang in ears as she walked in.

"Finally, you got here. I was about to start thinking I got stood up," Gina laughed, as she threw the cloth over her shoulder. "Oh right, sorry. No, I just wasn't sure what I was going to wear," Nini explained, and almost gagged thinking about how weird that sound coming from her. "Oh come on, since when do you care about what you're wearing?"

She shrugged to herself, understanding that it was stupid to be insecure. "Since...recently, I guess."

"Well, don't be. Your outfits are very you, don't change them," she smiled. "Oh. Thanks," Nini responded, as she set her bag down on the chair closest to her. "So uh, why'd you invite me to hang out with you today?" She asked.

After PE the day before, Gina had approached Nini to hang out with her. She did in front of every other girl in the girls' changing room, and the stares she received from them made her quite anxious to accept the invitation. But she nodded slowly, telling Gina that she would meet her at the café in a couple days time. But she was skeptical of the fact that made her invitation so...public.

"What do you mean? We suggested it before, did we not?" Gina replied. "I mean yeah, but still. Girls like you don't usually hang out with girls like me," Nini told her. "Well, who do you expect me to hang out with?"

She shrugged, "I don't know, people more like you maybe? Like..Maddie or Emma, or Hailey-"

"I am nothing like them, we're just teammates," Gina cut off, as she focused more on cleaning the table than what Nini was unnecessarily saying. "I find that hard to believe. I don't know, it would probably are more sense for you to be with people of your kind. Plus, you inviting me in front of them kind of seemed like a high school movie set up where I meet you here and all of a sudden, your evil friends show up and pour a milkshake all over me. This may not be a movie, but then again you are a cheerleader so-"

"Nini, I said I'm not like them. Can you stop assuming I'm such a bitch just because I wear a cheerleading uniform, damn," Gina interrupted, not really wanting to hear more of what Nini had to say about what she assumed she was like. "What's so I'm just supposed to believe you're the one good egg? And you just started being nice to me all of a sudden without an ulterior motive-"