𝗮𝗻𝗮𝗹𝗴𝗲𝘀𝗶𝗰 [𝗿𝗶𝗻𝗶 𝗮𝘂]

locked pain .28

"you need to get your head in the game, bowen," his coach yelled, slamming his hand in the clipboard. ricky just sat still, not reacting to anything. "are you even listening to me??"

ricky still didn't say anything. his eyes never left the bleachers, hopelessly scanning for his girlfriend. his coach squatted down and looked at ricky in the eyes, "ricky, what's going on?? where are you right now??"

ricky let out a sigh and took off his helmet, "i have to go."

"you what?"

"i-im sorry, coach. but i-i feel like something happened to my girlfriend—"

his coach let out a scoff and chuckled, "i-i'm sorry?? your girlfriend? you're gonna run out of here because of that?"

ricky looked at his coach dead in the eyes and nodded his head, "something happened to her. i gotta go."

jack chuckled under his breath as he watched ricky run off the field. the coach let out a sigh and shook his head, "unbelievable!??"

ej let out a deep breath. he looked at his parents in the stands. they were wearing UCLA sweaters. he watched as ricky ran over to his friends — all of them panicking and frantic. ej felt a lump go through his throat. he still had so many games left in college. there was no need to keep playing if he wasn't playing with ricky or for himself. nini's missing. that's what matters. the boy did what he thought was right.

he looked down at the ground as he took off his helmet and handed it to his coach. the coach looked at ej with disappointment, "no, no —ej. do not walk out on this game! this is your last game."

"yeah for east high," ej answered. "i gotta go. my friends need me."

"no, no, your teammates need you!" coach yelled as ej started to pack up his belongings.

"no, they need their coach," ej stated, "which is you."

the boy ran off, making the crowd confused on what was going on. howie, lily, and antoine smirked at each other. jack let out a chuckle and threw his helmet over his head. he was finally the star player of the team.

+

"fuck, her car's here," ricky said as they stood in front of nini's parked car.

"i don't understand why she's not answering," carlos exclaimed, ending the call once again.

"okay...if her car's here, why isn't she here?" gina asked, growing more frustrated.

"i think you should call her parents, ricky," ashlyn told the boy.

ricky nodded his head, "okay, okay. i gotta go grab my phone. it's in the school in the locker room."

as they all ran inside the school, ricky was growing more and more overwhelmed. there was too much stress, pain, and anxiety running through his blood. his vision was getting blurry, he felt hot, and he could barely keep himself up.

"ricky, you okay?" seb asked the boy, seeing how pale and sick ricky looked.

"yeah, yeah... i just am getting really worried," was all ricky said. as they ran down the halls, they heard banging on a door. they all stopped in their tracks.

bang, bang, bang, and bang.

"HELLO?? someone please..." nini helplessly yelled, getting more tired each second. she's been slamming her fists on the door and screaming at the top of her lungs since she's gotten locked in there. the girl didn't know how much longer she could keep doing it. she was starting to feel helpless and lose hope.

"NINI!" ej yelled. they all ran to the supply closet. ej twisted the knob, "it's locked!!"

nini quickly stood to her feet, "ej! guys!! hello??"

"nini!!" all her friends yelled in relief. nini let out a sigh of relief as she felt herself start to cry.

"neens, it's ricky," the boy yelled through the door, "we're gonna get you out of here, okay?"

nini nodded her head, tears running down her face, "okay... okay... they locked me in here. i'm sorry.."

"umm...does anyone have a bobby pin or credit card?" red asked. ashlyn pulled one out of her hair and handed it to red. they all stepped away as red continuously tried to unlock the door.
"got it," red announced. he quickly opened the door, and they saw nini sobbing on the floor. red moved to the side as ricky ran over to her.

"nini," ricky breathed out. he wrapped the girl in his arms, rubbing her back up and down in comfort. "you're okay, i got you." nini sobbed on his shoulder, tightening her grip on ricky.

nini's been bullied by lily and them her whole life. there were many instances with name-calling, tripping the girl, racist remarks, pranking her, publicly humiliating the poor girl. there were times where lily would dump food on nini, purposely hurt nini at recess or in pe, or post humiliating things about nini on the internet.

it was only this year that it had gotten so bad. jack got involved, and they started bothering not only nini but ricky and her friends now too. nini thought she was strong enough to handle lily, but she was wrong. this time, lily took it too far.

all of them watched as ricky held onto nini. the girl was frightened and humiliated. ricky could feel the pain in nini's heart as he held her in his arms. he closed his eyes, holding onto nini tighter. the girl felt some of her pain-relieving her body. she opened her eyes and slowly let go of ricky.

he was taking her pain.

nini let go of the boy before he could take anymore. ricky opened his eyes to see nini looking at him with admiration, but she didn't want her pain his. she shook her head, not wanting to talk about it in front of their friends.

ricky looked down to the floor, "this is all my fault... i'm sorry, nini."

"how is it your fault?? you didn't do anything wrong," nini contested, lifting ricky's head up with her hand. she continued, "this isn't your fault ricky."

"i should've called the cops like you told me to," ricky answered, "none of this would've happen—"

"—ricky, you can't blame yourself for people's problems," ej said, cutting the boy off. ricky and nini turned their heads to look at ej who was standing over them.

"we can take care of it now though," kourtney announced, "come on, we gotta tell someone what happened."

they all nodded their heads, ricky and nini standing up from the ground. ricky wrapped his arm around nini's shoudler, pulling her in close to him. he held onto her for comfort and because the boy could barely keep himself up too. they were all angry. pissed off about what lily, jack, howie, and antoine did to them. ricky could hear them talking but it was all muffled. he felt his eyes getting heavy. he couldn't hold his body up anymore.

it was as if everything was in slow motion. as they exited the school, nini felt ricky's arm slip from her shoulders. the boy fell forward, hitting his body on the ground. nini screamed at the top of her lungs. they all ran over to ricky, surrounding his body. the boy was unconscious on the floor.

ej and gina ran to the lacrosse field to get some help.

red and ashlyn ran to get ricky's parents.

seb and carlos called the ambulance.

nini and kourtney kept trying to make ricky conscious again, but he wasn't waking up.