𝗮𝗻𝗮𝗹𝗴𝗲𝘀𝗶𝗰 [𝗿𝗶𝗻𝗶 𝗮𝘂]

better than revenge .09

ricky stood at his locker, aimlessly staring at nothing. the boy turned his head to the left to see nini standing at her locker as well. the girl had a sad sunken look on her face as she shoved her books in her locker. nini turned her head and caught ricky staring at her. they awkwardly forced a smile at each other as they closed their lockers. ricky dug his hands in his pockets and made his way over to the girl. nini leaned against the locker as ricky towered over her.

"hey," ricky quietly said.

"hi," nini answered back in a soft tone.

"um... i like your outfit today."

"thanks, i like yours too..." nini awkwardly replied. ricky looked away from nini's eyes and let out a sigh.

"listen neens, i'm really sorry about everything i said last night-"

"- it's fine. it's not like you were wrong," nini simply stated, cutting ricky off. the boy looked up from the floor and into her eyes. they were glossy, swollen, and red. he could tell that she had been crying all night. ricky gently cupped nini's face into his hands, forcing her eyes to land on his.

"hey, hey, hey," ricky softly cooed, "what's wrong? what happened??"

the girl didn't say anything. ricky continued, "nini, i'm sorry for what i said, really. i was wrong, okay? i was just upset about stupid little stuff but it's not your fault and i shouldn't have taken it out on you."

nini gently removed ricky's hands on her face, making his heart sink down to his stomach. the boy anxiously waited for her to say something.

"i'm not mad at you, ricky...i'm more mad at myself for not listening to you and everybody else."

"why... what happened?"

"uhm... he stood me up," nini revealed, her voice cracking a bit. a few tears fell down her face before ricky pulled her into his chest. the boy let nini quietly sob in his arms as he ran his fingers through her hair, trying to calm the girl down.

after a few more seconds, nini slowly pulled away - wiping away the tears from her eyes. "he's not worth it, neens."

nini nodded her head and sighed, "i know....it still hurts because i really liked him."

"i know.. i'm sorry bubs," the boy softly cooed.

"let's take a picture," nini reminded ricky, earning a smile from the boy.

the bell rang and the girl groaned, "ugh fuck and now i have to see him in class."

"it's okay...i'll be in there with you, okay?" ricky softly said as he grabbed nini's hand and squeezed it three times. nini instantly felt better as she looked at ricky with lightness in her eyes. the boy felt a heavy strain on his heart but tried his best to ignore the pain.

ricky wrapped his arm around nini. the girl nodded her head and the two made their way into the classroom. jack and lily looked away from their conversation and at the two best friends. lily had a sly smirk on her face as jack looked at ricky with anger and jealousy.

"ignore them," ricky whispered into nini's ears. the girl felt her cheeks blush from ricky's enticing voice but tried to ignore it. before ricky and nini could sit, mr. mazzarra entered in behind them.

"alrighty students, please sit with your assigned partners," mr. mazzarra instructed. ricky rolled his eyes and gave nini one last look before making his way towards jack. nini looked at lily with hatred as she sat next to the blonde girl.

"i heard your date last night didn't go as planned," lily teased. nini looked up from her notebook and looked at lily with anger in her eyes.

"hey! ricky," jack whispered as he elbowed the curly headed boy. ricky looked up from his notebook and looked at jack with annoyance.

"what?" ricky spat.

"tell nini that i'm sorry i couldn't go last night."

"no?"

"what? ... why not?"

"because i don't have to??"

ricky glared at jack as the obnoxious boy let out a chuckle. "oh i see...you like her, don't you?"

"fuck off," ricky told jack, rolling his eyes.

jack placed his hand on ricky's shoulder and gave him a snarky smile, "why don't we see what nini thinks about that, hm?

ricky glanced at mr. mazzarra, who was currently occupied with writing directions on the board. before jack could get up, ricky grabbed jack's hand off of his shoulder.

ricky began to twist jack's arm and pulled him back down on the seat. jack winced in pain as he tried to pull out of ricky's grip.

"i don't think you're gonna tell nini anything, hm?" ricky whispered. ricky gave jack's hand a squeeze, transferring some of nini's pain onto jack. the obnoxious boy winced even more before ricky quickly let go of his hand.

jack massaged his hand while ricky looked around the room to see if anyone saw them.

ricky started to chuckle as jack looked at the boy with fear. "what's your problem, bowen?? we literally have a game tomorrow."

"good, hopefully that'll make you play better then," ricky teased with a sly smirk on his face. the curly headed boy noticed how jack put his hand over his heart, feeling the weight of nini's pain inside him.

jack didn't say anything for the rest of the class as the two boys worked in silence.

"so, im thinking of wearing green to prom," lily continued to pester nini, "you think jack will agree or what?"

nini rolled her eyes and stayed silent. it's been like this since the beginning of class. lily would bother and piss off nini any chance she could get, hoping for a reaction from the girl. but nini always stayed silent.

"hey nini? remember when we were little and you told me you had no dad," lily started to say as she inched her face closer to nini, "he left because he didn't want you... right?"

before nini could even process what she was doing, the girl had already kicked the legs of lily's stool. lily fell backwards off of her chair, hitting her head on the floor. everyone's head flew up from their papers as they saw lily crying on the floor and nini with her leg out.

mr. mazzarra stood up from his desk and looked at nini with astonishment, "nini..."

"i uh..."

"office. now."

fuck.