Make You Happy - a Rina story

Dusting the dust off

Still no luck in finding Gina's feather dusters. Where could they have put them?! The dressing room isn't that big, Ricky thought to himself. As if she heard this thoughts, Gina approached him: ,,I can't believe we still haven't found anything."

,,Me neither." Ricky stopped searching. ,,Hey, I never got to ask you what happened during our improv rehearsals last weekend."

Gina tilted her head.

,,So, what happened? Why did you walk out like that?" Ricky asked.

,,Oh. It was nothing."

,,Didn't seem like nothing to me."

,,Well, I'm telling you, there's nothing to worry about."

,,I just thought-"

,,You thought what?" Gina crossed her arms.

,,I wanted to ask. I thought we shared stuff with each other?"

,,Yeah, I thought so, too. But not everything, apparently."

,,What's that supposed to mean?" Ricky was confused.

,,Forget it."

,,No, I want to talk about it."

,,You want to talk about it? Okay. Fine. How about we start with opening night. I poured my heart out and you didn't care."

,,Why wouldn't I care?"

,,Have you said anything? No. Have you talked to me afterwards? No."

,,I thought you were leaving!" Ricky said in exasperation.

,,So did I. But then I stayed. And you didn't seem to care." Gina uncrossed her arms. She could feel tears forming in her eyes.

,,Of course I did! I was happy when I found out." Ricky didn't know what to think about this whole situation.

,,Is that why you ran to Nini the moment you thought I left for good?" she sniffed. He could see the tears in her eyes now.

,,What are you talking about?" he stretched out his arm to console her. She took a step back.

,,Forget about it. Just- leave me alone." she walked to the other side of the room.

,,Sounds like your girlfriend needs some space." Lily appeared out of nowhere. Everyone jumped. She was looking at Ricky.

,,Let me know when you're looking for one who doesn't."

Ricky just stood there, completely speechless, mouth slightly opened.

Gina turned around, her eyes widened. Nini was taken aback as well. Did Lily see the video?

,,I-" he tried to get something out, but couldn't.

Lily moved her head to face Gina. ,,Oh, sorry. Totally didn't mean to offend you."

Gina regained her posture. ,,Offend me how, exactly?"

,,You know. Not being a good enough girlfriend to the Beast." Lily smirked.

Everybody's mouths almost dropped to the floor.

,,Don't talk about her like that." Ricky suddenly said. Lily turned her attention to him again, as did everyone else.

,,Like what?" she smiled, taking a step closer.

,,She is enough. She is way more than enough. She's kind, she's talented. And she's a much better person than you'll ever be." he narrowed his eyes. Gina tried not to blush, Nini wasn't sure what was happening.

,,Aw, overprotective, are we?" Lily took another step closer. ,,I like it. It's cute. You and I would make a great couple." she was now standing centimeters away from Ricky. She ran her fingers through his hair and he quickly took a step back. She got closer again and lifted his chin up.

,,Don't be scared, I won't bite."

Ricky looked down on her. This time Lily stepped back, but it wasn't because of Ricky. Two people entered the room. It was the guy and the girl from their Instagram post.

,,Now, now. Breaking into a school? How... wicked." the girl smirked. Lily went to stand next to her. ,,Ah, we can't let this golden opportunity go to waste, can we?" she said. A few people raised their eyebrows.

,,We challenge you to a dance-off." she continued.

,,And why should we accept?" Kourtney stepped forward.

,,Because if you don't, we will tell everyone about your little stunt."

Kourtney lost her confidence for a quick moment.

,,We're in." Gina took a step forward as well.

,,Fabulous! You shall have your possessions back - if you win, that is." the guy said, taking out Gina's feather dusters, waving them around. Gina looked more irritated than ever.

,,Fine. And if we lose?" she asked.

,,No feather dusters for you. And you will drop out of the competition." the girl said with a creepy smile on her face.

Nobody liked this, but what choice did they leave them with. They were forced to agree.

,,I can't dance!" EJ started whining as soon as the three North High students left. ,,Oh come on, I'm sure you'll come up with something." Gina nudged him in the shoulder.

Ricky felt a rush of emotions. ,,Yeah, you'd better. This dance-off is pretty damn important." he said, giving EJ a mean stare. EJ reciprocated. Gina looked at them both with a confused look.

,,Alright, alright. We can't start fighting between each other. We have to be united!" Carlos stepped in the middle of the room. ,,It will most likely be a freestyle competition, so do whatever feels right, try to feel the music and just go with the flow!" he started dancing on his spot. Seb smiled and joined him, both snapping their fingers and stepping from one side to the other.

Soon enough everyone except for Nini and Ricky joined in. It seemed as if all of their worries flew away. Ricky looked at Nini, who seemed a bit out of it. He walked up to her.

,,Nins. I'm sorry for overreacting earlier."

,,Are you?" she stared at him.

,,Yes." he tried to understand where her doubts were coming from.

,,Care to explain what happened with Lily out there?" she changed the topic.

,,Uh- She was being rude, I tried to fight back. Is there something else?"

,,What about the part of her saying Gina's your girlfriend and you not correcting her?" Nini was fuming.

,,I don't even know that happened. I was too shocked to react." he shook his head with a nervous chuckle.

,,Right. That's why you kept on complementing Gina instead of telling Lily to get out or something."

,,I can't believe we're really arguing about this. Is it seriously that wrong to stand up for your friend?"

,,I don't think you were standing up for your friend, exactly." Nini said and stormed away, leaving Ricky puzzled. Who else would he be standing up for?

He looked back at the crowd and noticed Gina. She was laughing while doing a goofy dance. I've never seen her this happy in a long time, he smiled to himself. "I don't think you were standing up for your friend," Nini's voice echoed inside his head. Now he understood what she meant.