rainbow connection | rini

five

The sixth time Ricky dropped Nini, she told Ms. Jenn that she refused to do any lifts with him, ever. They tried to work around them, but it just wasn't working.

"What will it take for you to do the lifts?" She asked.

Nini eyed Ricky with annoyance, "A trustworthy partner."

"It's not my fault you're a cow!" Ricky shot back.

Nini's eyes shifted from him to Ms. Jenn. She nodded, and then said, "Cool." Immediately, she left their practice room and joined the barre lesson in the main studio.

"Did you just walk out of your practice?" A young girl named Megan whispered.

Nini nodded. "My partner is kind of a jerk."

Not too long later, Ms. Jenn came in and walked up to Nini. "Let's go have a chat," she said.

Nini sighed and followed her teacher into her office. "Yes?" she asked when the door was finally closed.

"You're being difficult."

Nini exhaled heavily and said, "He called me a cow. He dropped me six times. We've gotten nowhere, and you say nothing."

"I said something to him when you left the room. You're being difficult. You're paired with him and that's that." Nini had never been so angry with her teacher before.

"Fail me," Nini said. "Fail me for the duet, I don't care."

"If you don't do the duet, I'm dropping your solo and you'll fail the class for the grading period," Ms. Jenn threatened.

Nini's jaw locked and she brought a hand up through her hair. "He's impossible to work with."

Nini's teacher looked into her eyes and said, "But not more so than you."

"Fine, I'll do it," she decided. She'd never failed anything before, she figured she shouldn't start any time soon.

The two women made their way back into the practice room. "Since we're all calm now, why don't we talk about these lifting issues."

"The only problem I have with lifting her is that she's so tense," Ricky explained. "If she could chill out a little, it would be fine."

"You did look a little uncomfortable, Nini," she said.

Nini said, "I was, but let's try the shoulder sit again."

They tried again, and this time he didn't drop her. The lift, however, was far from perfect. Ricky didn't put Nini down because he would tell their teacher was studying the pose.

"Okay, put her down," she said after a while of staring at them curiously. "Do it again, but this time, Nini, don't tuck your hips. It looks awkward."

Nini bit her lip and nodded. She hadn't realized she was tucking her hips before. Once again, she leaped up and Ricky put her on his shoulder. This time, her back was perfectly erect. Ms. Jenn smiled.

She clapped happily and said, "That's what it has to look like all the time. That's beautiful." She dismissed the class and Nini and Ricky didn't speak to each other for the rest of the day.

"No, dude, I'm not kidding," Ricky said to his best friend during football practice, "She's so skinny that I could carry her like a sack of potatoes." EJ looked at Nini, then back at Ricky with a smirk.

"Twenty bucks, man," he said.

"To go pick her up?" He asked.

EJ nodded and said, "One arm, like a sack of potatoes."

Ricky shrugged and walked over to the cheerleaders. It was easy because Nini's back was turned to him to just scoop her up by her ribs and throw her over his shoulder. As he expected, she yelped and immediately started thrashing.

Pounding her fists against his back and thrashing her legs wildly, she screamed, "Ricky Bowen, you put me down right now!"

Of course, he ignored her and walked around in circles, rocking her body too fast. Her kicking slowed as she got dizzier and dizzier, but her screaming never stopped. Ricky laughed.

"You've got a set of lungs," he told her.

"Put me down!"

"Okay, Rick! Put her down before she pukes, you idiot!" Gina yelled. Ricky slung Nini down and let her fall a short distance to the grass. She put her head between her knees and breathed deeply.

After several minutes, she stood up and picked up her bag. "I'm gonna head home," she said. She didn't wait for anyone to say anything else, she just started walking.

"Did practice end early?" Her mother asked.

"No," Nini said as she hung her house key on its ring.

"Did something happen?" Her stepfather questioned.

"Yeah."

Her parents exchanged glances and her mother finally said, "I'm assuming you don't want to talk about it."

"Nope."

"That's fine," she decided. Nini was already trudging up the stairs, though.

They let her be because they trusted that she'd talk to them about her problems when she was ready. Only this time, she didn't come down for dinner. Still, they left her alone. They decided to check on her when she never came out to tell them goodnight.

Her door half-open, Nini was curled up with Mr. Floppy. She was still in her clothes and on top of her blankets, so her parents carefully removed her shoes and laid a throw blanket over her.

In the morning, Nini shuffled to her parents' room with the blanket wrapped around her. She poked her mom gently to wake her up.

When the woman finally opened her eyes, Nini said, "I don't feel very well. Can I stay home?"

She searched her daughter's eyes for a sense of truth and found nothing. "Sure, Nini. Go back to sleep."

"Ricky, where's Nini?" Ms. Jenn asked in class that day.

"I don't know, I haven't seen her." He was worried about her, though. He tried not to show it because he had no reason to actually be concerned about her. She was just another girl.

"She usually tells me when she's sick," she thought aloud.

He noticed that Nini seemed close with the woman, and he wondered if Nini would tell her about what happened at practice the day before. It was just a joke, though, so it wasn't that big a deal. Nini just didn't seem like the type who could take a joke.