Secretly in Love|Rini Au (Completed)

twenty-eight.

Nini walked into the gym after paying the $2 that were required for entrance to the competition.

She found a seat in the middle of the bleachers that was close enough to the floor, so that Gina could see her cheer her on.

Nini placed small thing in the seats that surrounded her saving seats for Ricky, Kourtney, and Ashlyn.

After Nini finally got settled she noticed students and parents started to flood into the gym. Dance competitions were pretty popular at East high so there were a lot of students who came out for them.

At any normal high school, it's the basketball games or the football games that receive the most student spectators but at east high, it was the dance competitions.

There were always different categories that the dance competitions held whether it was creative dance, solo, duet, or trio. But what everyone came to see was the stand battles.

A stand battle is when teams go head to head on the floor throwing different choreography at each other. The captain of the team always leads the stand battle choosing which stand to throw and when.

With Gina being the captain, she was always the one who threw the stands which was her favorite part. She loved the rush it gave her going head to head and giving attitude.

"Hey Nini" Kourtney and Ashlyn greeted the girl as they handed her her belongings from the seats she saved for them.

"Thanks for saving our seats" Ashlyn smiled at the girl

"Of course! It was no problem"

"Uhh Nini. You have a little—" Kourtney told the girl discreetly

"Huh?"

"You sure you don't want to wear your hair down?"

"No" Nini chuckled "it's wet and having it up in a bun will help it dry faster. Why? What's wrong?" Nini said oblivious to the fact that her neck looked like she had an encounter with a vampire.

'What were her and Ricky— you know what I don't even wanna know' Kourtney thought to herself

"So you haven't looked at yourself in the mirror or the camera or anything?" Kourtney asked the girl hoping that she'd get the hint. She didn't exactly know how to just come out and say 'you have a dozen hickeys all over your neck'

"No" Nini turned her entire body towards the girl "what's going on Kourtney is there something on my face or something?"

"Well..." before Kourtney could finish her thoughts Ricky sat down next to Nini. Both of the girls turned to the curly haired boy and Nini's eyes widened as she saw the hickeys that she had left on his neck.

Then it registered in her head. Kourtney was referring to the hickeys on her neck, and now Ricky showed up with a bunch on his along with her hair being soaking wet she must think—

"Kourt I promise it's not what it looks like"

"Hey, it's no judgement here. But I'd go try to cover that up if I were you. It looks a little sus that both of you have them, and are sitting right next to each other"

"Right!" Nini said and hurried off to the bathroom hoping not to run into anyone.

After Nini made it to the bathroom she took a look at herself in the mirror, and she couldn't believe the number of hickeys that she had.

"Oh my god" she whispered as she ran her fingers across one of them. She quickly grabbed her foundation,and concealer out of her bag, grateful that she decided to do her makeup once she got to school that morning.

She used her beauty blender to try to cover them up the best that she could.

"Well if it isn't Nina Salazar-Roberts" Lily said as she entered the bathroom. Nini mentally rolled her eyes not having the time nor patience to deal with her

"And you said my full name because?? Obsession much?" Nini said before turning around continuing to apply her makeup

"Whatcha covering up there Nina?"

"None of your business. Don't you have something else to do right about now?"

"You've been getting pretty close to Ricky Bowen huh?"

"He's my best friend's brother. I've always been close to him. Why's that any of your business anyway?"

"Oh nothing. But don't you just love the way his nose crinkles up when he's sleeping? Or the way he just runs his fingers through your hair when he—well you know" Lily said, and for some reason it bothered Nini.

Nini knew that Ricky had been with plenty of other girls before but it's different when you have one of them standing in front of you, knowing his mannerisms by heart.

It almost made everything he did with her feel less special. Like it's all reused.

Nini wasn't going to let Lily know that it bothered her though.

"Actually I don't know" Nini laughed "Ricky is literally just my best friend's brother. But I hope you enjoy being with him" Nini said before she exited the bathroom.

She went into the gym, and took her normal seat as the competition started. She looked over at Ricky and noticed he wasn't giving off his normal energy.

He almost seemed...sad

Before Nini could say anything to the boy Gina's team came out for the stand battle. The crowd erupted in cheers, Nini being the loudest one of course.

She did her best to shake what had just happened in the bathroom a few minutes earlier because all she needed right now was to be there for her best friend.

Gina noticed Nini in the crowd and did the special sign that only the two of them knew what it meant. First she put her hand on her heart, then she'd drag it across her chest and finish it off with a snap.

Nini did it in return, and Gina smiled feeling in that moment that her best friend wasn't slipping from her fingers as much as she thought.

The music started and Gina threw the first stand with nothing but energy and attitude. The girls watched Gina intently so they'd know which sets of 8 counts they'd be doing.

After Gina finished throwing the stand the girls began the choreography feeding off of Gina's energy. All the girls looked amazing out there, and after seeing how well they were doing Nini knew they had a good chance of winning.

After they finished theirs, the opposing team started their stand. They had to admit, they were good but their choreography was lacking in some areas.

After they finished Gina threw her next stand not losing any energy along the way and her team following suit.

She was almost positive that they'd win the battle.

After the last stand was finished the crowd began to cheer as they awaited the judges decision in the award ceremony.

Nini turned to Ricky noticing that he still hadn't said anything and his energy was just really off.

"Hey, are you okay?" Nini asked the boy in an obviously concerned tone

"Oh uh yeah, I just need some air" and with that Ricky got up leaving the gym and a very confused Nini

A/N
Sigh. And they were doing so well. What do y'all think is wrong with Ricky? And do y'all think what Lily said is gonna continue to bother Nini? Anyway I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter and tysm for reading!

If you want to see an actual stand battle you can look it up on YouTube! I love watching them Lol. They're so entertaining to me.