𝐆𝐎𝐎𝐃 𝟒 𝐔 | 𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐢 𝐚𝐮

THREE

"i am literally filled with rage, you do not understand." nini whines as she rests her head on the table in the cafeteria of east high. her three friends look at each other awkwardly as they watch the girl. "he also had the audacity to somehow obtain my number and text me?" the girl continues to throw a tantrum while kourtney, gina, ashlyn and carlos try to ignore her. 

"guys, why are you not paying any attention to me." she continues to complain. clearly she's a bit of attention seeker when it comes to her lovely friend group of hers. 

"to be honest with you, neens," carlos starts. nini knows that this will turn to a lecture. "i think you should maybe try to be civil with ricky. he seems to be trying to be nice." kourtney, ashlyn and gina look at each other knowing damn well that nini is about to blow up at the boy of the group. 

"try to be civil?" she scoffs. "i can barely hold back my puke by just looking at him, so that doesn't sound like a very good plan to me. sorry carlos." she smiles at him, sarcastically. 

"maybe carlos is right, neens, why do you even hate him anyway?" kourtney speaks up, trying to defend the boy who was just trying to help the girl and her situation. 

nini stares at kourtney blankly trying to recollect her thoughts as to why she hates ricky. "because he is ricky bowen?" her voice cracks slightly, knowing that she has no reason at all to hate ricky. 

"my point proven." kourtney grins at her. nini groans and slams her head back onto the table. "code ricky, coming this way." kourtney softly says, already cringing at what is about to happen. nini's head jolts up from the table.

"richard bowen, if you take one more step towards this table i will personally murder you myself!" she shouts through the cafeteria. a strong pair of hands are placed onto nini's small shoulders, making her yelp. "get your filthy hands off me!" the boy removes his hands and instead slips onto the bench seat next to her.

"hello to you too, roberts." he grins at her and her friends that gather around the table. "if you didn't know, my buddy and i are partners in this biology assignment." he wraps an arm around her shoulders. this time nini didn't budge, she just accepted the fact that she could do nothing about it, for the first time in her life. 

"we most definitely knew." gina sighs as she looks a nini in front of her, who looks incredibly uncomfortable. 

"aw," ricky gushes, placing a hand over his heart. "you talk about me with your friends, roberts." the boy squeezes her, pulling her closer to his own body. nini mutters something along the lines of 'don't touch me' under her breath, nobody heard her though. 

"don't think i talk about you nicely, bowen." she bluntly states. "now get your hands off of me." she wriggles from his grasp, breaking free from it. 

"now, should i meet at your house after school or mine?" he leans on the table, trying to get some sort of eye contact out of nini, but she chooses to keep her eyes looking straight down at her lap. at this moment in time, the vulnerable side of nini was showing, not to mention that this was the first time ricky had seen the girl like this, but also her own friends had rarely seen her like this. 

"you can come to mine, i suppose." she basically whispers as she fiddles with her fingers on her lap. ricky smiles down at the girl softly as he watches the girl. he gets up from the seat next to her and boldly leaves a small and soft kiss on her cheek before walking back off to his own set of friends.

nini's head jolts upwards to look at her friends, who also seem to be reciprocate the same feeling of shock. "what the fuck," the girl says in total surprise. "did he just kiss my cheek?" she says in disbelief as her friends blankly stare while they all slowly nod their head. "why would he  do that?" nini's head was filled with many questions, that had no answers. 

"he clearly wants to be civil with you, neens." ashlyn speaks up and chuckles awkwardly. 

"i am sick of his shit," she runs her fingers through her hair. "i want to know what he wants from me." nini huffs as starts to pack up her bag and get up from the table. "i'll see you guys later, i'm going to class." and just like that the girl who is normally surrounded by at least one of her friends, walks through the cafeteria with her head down and keeping a fast pace on. 

to say the least, nini was not only very confused, but frustrated by ricky's actions. maybe being civil wouldn't be that bad after all? don't be stupid, nini, you hate him. 

the girl decides she doesn't want to go to class, but to ditch class to go home and let out her confused feelings by songwriting. nini pivots back around in the hallway making her way out the carpark, where she finds her car parked in the seniors section. 

she fiddles with the key in the lock of her front door, which opens to reveal a very empty and large home. "home alone," she sighs. "again." she drops her school bag by the door. the sound echos through out the house. she makes her way up the staircase to her room, grabbing her guitar as she enters. 

she sits down at her window seat, strumming away at her guitar, waiting for a melody to come together as she spits some random words out. 

you're not a hopeless romantic, 
you're just a creature of habit,
you want me cause i'm easy,
you want me cause you know me,
i'm not your soulmate, 
babe i swear,

"who knew you were a singer, roberts?" nini's head shoots up to see ricky leaning against her door.

"ricky!" she fumbles with the guitar, putting on the ground carefully. "who let you in?" she scrambles trying to pretending she was doing something else. clearly she wasn't.

"the door was unlocked, nina." he walks in, placing himself on the bed, making himself at home in her bedroom. "nice song."

"thanks," she mumbles as she looks everywhere but at ricky. "how much did you hear?" she scratches her head awkwardly.

"i heard all of it." nini's lips form into an 'o' shape, before placing her hands over top of her face. 

"don't tell anyone, okay?" she pleads. "i don't like people knowing that i sing."  she mutters as she sits on the window seat, anxiously biting at her fingernails. her eyes slowly move up to look at the boy, who sat comfortably on top of her bed.

"who would i tell, roberts?" ricky simply says as he gets up from the bed, making his way to sit next to her on the window seat. nini shrugs her shoulders slightly as her response to his question. "why have you gone all soft on me? usually this would be a heated argument." he chuckles as the girl stays quiet.

"my friends told me that i should try be civil with you." she goes quiet again. "and i am also still confused as to why you kissed my cheek today at lunch." nini moves slightly bringing her legs to her chest. 

"i was just feeling bold, i suppose." ricky says plainly. they both stare at each other, nini in confusion, while ricky admires the small girl. the girl slowly nods her head in response and again looks else where, but at him. 

"i still hate you by the way," she speaks up. "just because i have gone all quiet on you today doesn't mean that i won't yell at you tomorrow."

"whatever you say, roberts."