kid krow | rini

eleven

Nini was far removed from experiencing happiness when the second semester of the school year started. Not because she hated school, but because she missed the period of time when the plastics were off on ridiculous family vacations and couldn't be bothered with knowing where Ricky was. They'd slowed down their after-school and weekend engagements and Nini was just so beside herself about it.

So when their history teacher fell ill with an awful stomach virus and was out of school for a few days, Nini was dreading the study sessions they were assigned to busy themselves. Their substitute teacher had explained that upon their teacher's return, they would have a test based on multiple chapters they'd been assigned to read in his absence. For Nini, this meant sitting in silence with her face buried in a textbook while her classmates talked entirely too much.

She probably could have ignored them more had it not been for EJ Caswell. He spent a good amount of time chatting with Ricky before suddenly asking, "Dude what the fuck is up with that gay ass ring you have on?"

Nini knew instantly that the ring the boy was referring to was the simple silver band that had a butterfly cutout on it. Nini's ring had a butterfly that fit inside of it perfectly and she'd made a habit of fist-bumping the boy to connect the pieces. She eyed him while he sputtered a response.

"It's just a ring, man," he murmured with a shrug. "Don't get what's gay about it."

Satisfied with the response, she turned her attention back to the textbook. That was, of course, until she heard a slur escape EJ's lips. Without another thought, she slammed her textbook closed, infuriated by the name he just called her boyfriend. "Have you ever considered shutting up? Like just a single time."

"Excuse me?" the boy said, turning around in his chair. The classroom fell silent and for some reason, the old fart substituting was not paying attention, engrossed in a crossword puzzle instead.

Nini turned her knees toward EJ under the desk, her attention entirely on him. "You heard me. Or... should I repeat it like you're repeating this class?"

Their classmates murmured and ooohed as EJ let out a frustrated sigh. "Who the fuck was talking to you anyway? You show up to one of my parties one time and you think you're hot shit?"

"I don't think I'm hot shit, Elijah," Nini said, a bitter laugh creeping out. She licked her lips and brought her eyes level with his. "I just think you're a brainless, limp, homophobic dick."

What Nini failed to notice was that the vice principal had entered the room to check in on the substitute in a usually rowdy class period. Unusually rowdy was Nina Salazar-Roberts who definitely found herself on the short end of the stick when she was called, by name, out of the classroom. She glared at EJ the entire way down to the principal's office.

She made it a point to scoot her chair just a little further away from him at the principal's desk. When she sat down, she avoided eye contact with either party. This wasn't because she was ashamed or felt bad for anything she said, she was just too furious to contain herself.

"What is going on with you two?" The woman asked. Neither teen responded so she said, "Nina, you go first."

"No," EJ decided. "I'll go first. Nina, here, seems to have some sort of problem with me today. I don't know why, but I think sometimes she takes her anger about her home life out on other people."

Nini rolled her eyes with a defensive scoff. "That's not true! My home life is fine," she argued.

"So my dad didn't just move your mom to Denver?"

"H-he did," Nini said quietly. "That hasn't caused any problems in my family, you just want to throw out the fact that your dad is a CEO for a company that my mother just happens to work at."

EJ let out a chuckle and shook his head. "I think I was actually throwing out a warning that you should watch your mouth."

"Oh, piss off, Elijah!"

"Nina!" The woman was scribbling quickly on her notepad but paused to look up in shock. "I'm afraid this behavior, which is so uncharacteristic of you, is going to be a problem."

The young girl sighed and rubbed the sides of her face slowly. "I'm sorry," she mumbled. Nervously, she tapped her foot and picked at a loose thread on her shirt. "I got upset because EJ used a homophobic slur in class today. Aside from generally being a decent human being, it upsets me because I have two moms. You already know that part."

"Did he use this term toward a classmate?"

Nini nodded and the boy shifted forward very defensively. "He was talking to one of the other basketball players." She was careful to not mention Ricky's name, hoping to not put the boy in a situation where he felt like he needed to pick between the two of them.

"I didn't do that," EJ argued. "I mean... I don't agree with that sort of lifestyle choice or whatever, but I had no reason to use that term with Ricky. I would never insult a friend like that."

As she continued to jot down notes about this conversation, she questioned, "This is Ricky Bowen that you're talking about? I'm gonna go ahead and give you both detention for today. When I catch up with Ricky and get his side of the story, one of you is going to have detention for the rest of the week."

Later in the day, when Nini was retrieving her textbooks from her locker for the final time, she overheard a conversation in the hall. Just as usual, Gina stood by EJ at his locker. This time, Ricky stood with the duo as they all talked. The boy was explaining to his girlfriend and best friend why he was missing basketball practice.

"No, she's a fucking bitch," EJ spat. "Like what the fuck was up her ass today?"

Gina shrugged and leaned away a little as if to separate herself from him as she said, "I mean... you did use being gay as an insult when she has gay parents. I'm not like... on her side or anything but I kind of get it."

"Who fucking asked you, Gina?" he pressed. "Don't you have to get to practice or something? God, you're so annoying sometimes." And Gina nodded slowly before wandering off without another word, clearly bothered by the boy's words. Nini found herself wondering how Gina could allow herself to be around someone so awful. "Look, dude, I told the principal I didn't say it at all. It was just a joke but clearly, the loser can't take one. Just do me a solid and say she was lying, yeah?"

Ricky swallowed hard and glanced around the hall, his knuckles white over the grip he had on his backpack strap. He made brief eye contact with Nini but looked away immediately. "Why does it matter if you said it or not?"

"Detention for the rest of the week, man. I'll get benched and my dad will cancel my credit card again. You remember what happened last time." EJ slammed the locker closed and began to walk away with Ricky hot on his tail.

Nini wished the boy would have looked at her again, but instead, he just looked at the floor when they walked past her and EJ flipped her off. After clearing his throat, the girl heard her boyfriend mumble. "Oh, yeah... sure dude."