The Know-It-All

Ch. 10

Nini licked her lips.

Kourtney already had to tell her to wake up twice.

She wasn't asleep, no. The brunette was... thinking. She was angry and confused and was up all night. She sat now, in her proper attire, on a plastic chair in the auditorium at the debating place. She was nervous and couldn't focus her thoughts on anything.

Well, anything except Ricky freaking Bowen.

Nini was mad at Ricky. So, so mad at her "buddy". She was mad, confused and a little hurt because of Ricky, actually.

She didn't know why.

Nini sighed, fidgeting with her fingers and the hem of her blazer. She was so nervous. Her mind was racing. She was up next for debate, about to talk about a topic she had no clue about and only have five minutes alone with her thoughts to process her ideas.

Kourtney was sitting next to her, reading a news article on her phone. She kept frowning and scrolling with her finger. "What's that?" Nini asked, glancing over at her best friend.

"Just some fashion crisis in Milan," Kourtney said, her eyebrows furrowed. Nini rolled her eyes.

Of course it was a fashion crisis.

Nini sighed, wiping the sweat on her palms off and onto her skirt.

She never felt giddy and skittish about debating before, why was this time any different?

She tried listening to the debate on the central stage, but her mind kept wandering back to last night, no matter how hard she didn't want it to. She willed herself to think about something else. Anything else. Nini craned her neck to check the time, when she spotted a certain brown-haired, broad-shouldered guy.

Elliot.

Nini blinked. She didn't feel nervous when she looked at him at all. She almost seemed to feel nothing at all. It was as if the butterflies in her stomach dropped dead when they saw Elliot.

It was weird.

She didn't like dead butterflies.

What was even weirder was that he was at the debate complex on her day. He usually didn't show his face other than to do his own debate. If Nini wasn't nervous before, she was now.

Now Elliot was watching her in the crowd. She had to do good.

And they had their date later.

However, the butterflies were still dead.

Nini inwardly groaned, her head still swimming. She barely got any sleep the night before, her thoughts not letting her get a sliver of sleep until she saw daylight stream through her curtains at seven in the morning. She was dead inside; physically and mentally drained.

She blamed the wine she had yesterday.

The brunette wanted someone to talk to. But she had no one. She couldn't even talk to Kourtney because all she yapped about was Howie and fashion.

Nini almost didn't hear her name, which they called twice. She abruptly stood up and awkwardly made her way to the stage where her competition was already waiting.

The guy was short. 5'4, probably. He wore his dark brown hair in a close crop near his scalp, his suit was pressed flat, his tie tied evenly. There wasn't even a wrinkle on his suit pants. His shoes reflected her face, which Nini probably hissed at.

The guy gave her a quick glance before looking away almost in disgust.

Nini felt nervous when she looked at the guy. He was strange. Strange made Nini feel anxious. She didn't usually judge people at first glance, but he was her competition this round, and she was sizing him up.