𝘀𝗽𝗶𝗱𝗲𝗿-𝗺𝗮𝗻: 𝗶𝗻𝗶𝗾𝘂𝗶𝘁𝘆 [ 𝙧𝙞𝙣𝙞 𝙖𝙪 ]

love bite .05

ricky nervously waited in his desk. he had class with ej and antoine, nervous of being in the same room as them after what happened this morning.

nini looked up from her sketchbook and noticed ricky's shakey leg. she poked him with her pencil, startling the boy.

"dear god— you scared me," ricky exclaimed, putting his hand over his heart.

"you look like you're gonna piss your pants," nini said, making the boy roll his eyes. nini continued, "i saw the video-"

"-oh god."

"you finally fought back," nini chirped. ricky softly smiled as nini look at him with proud eyes, "pretty cool of you, nerd."

"i didn't even wanna fight back," ricky explained to the girl, "it just sorta ... happened?"

"you just sorta kicked five guys' asses?"

"uh.. kinda?" ricky honestly answered. nini chuckled and shook her head.

"stop being so humble, ricky," nini cooed, "i thought it was pretty inspiring."

"really?"

"yeah, to never take the subway anymore," nini joked, "or only take it if you're on there."

she looked up at ricky with a sweet smile. both of their cheeks turned red and the girl melted into a smile before focusing back on her sketch book.

"what are you drawing?"

"just people..." nini simply said, closing her sketchbook.

just in time, ej and antoine came in. ej was dragging his feet, his body tired from being smacked in the gut by a metal pole. antoine was beat. he had a bruise forming on the side of his face when ricky used antoine as a human shield.

they walked up to ricky who was hiding his face in a textbook. "we can still see you," ej exclaimed.

ricky let out a sigh and slowly put down his textbook. "oh? hey! you guys made it to class.... yipee..."

"you think you're so funny, huh, bowen?" antoine vocalized leaning his body against ricky's desk, towering over the body.

"i do," nini simply said, giving her hand a little raise.

ej rolled his eyes, "stay out of it, nini."

nini let out a scoff and crossed her arms over her chest, "first of all, i don't need to listen to white men like you. second of all, we're at school — in the middle of class, where you're practically screaming your insecurities out to everyone and projecting them onto ricky. lastly, he literally handed your guys' asses to you this morning — where the whole school literally saw the video and you're still provoking him? either you guys are in love with him or wanna be him — choose your poison and stop acting like children."

ricky's jaw dropped and he gasped from astonishment. the whole class started snickering under their breaths as antoine and ej looked at nini with annoyance. the girl only met them with a snarky smile and batted her eyes, innocently.

"come on," ej whispered to antoine and pulled him towards their desks. ricky watched as ej and antoine sat at the other side of the classroom and kept quiet. he turned his head to nini who was simply unbothered. before ricky could say anything, mr. mazarra came into the classroom. ricky and nini exchanged one last look before settling down in their desks.

"alright," mr. mazarra announced, "let's get started with today's lesson plan."

+

it was the end of class and ricky was chasing nini down the hallway with excitement. "nini! where did that come from?" ricky breathed out, looking at nini with acclaim. the girl shrugged her shoulders.