𝗕𝗲𝘁𝘁𝗲𝗿 𝗣𝗹𝗮𝗰𝗲, 𝗕𝗲𝘁𝘁𝗲𝗿 𝗧𝗶𝗺𝗲 - 𝗔 𝗥𝗶𝗻𝗶 𝗔𝗨

5 | Mᴏɴᴏʟᴏɢᴜᴇꜱ

𝐍𝐢𝐧𝐢

After lunch, my friends and I went back to our cabin to practice our monologues. I was doing the apology from Anne of Green Gables and Cece was doing a speech from High School Musical. We took turns practicing while Tiffany and Ellie gave us notes.

"Chin up! Enunciate!" Ellie told me.

I broke character for a moment. "Why should my chin be up? It's an apology. I'm supposed to be ashamed."

"...True. Keep going."

I continued. "The things I said were also true... but that's not the point!"

I finished my monologue and then it was Cece's turn again. I had already seen her do it a million times and she's a really good actress.

"Guys. If you don't know that I'll put a hundred and ten percent of my guts into that game, then you don't know me," she started.

Tiffany said Chad's line for her. "But we just thought—"

"I'll tell you what I thought. I thought that you were my friends. Win together, lose together. Teammates."

"But the girl. And the singing."

"Man, I'm for the team! I've always been for the team. She's just someone I met, alright?"

"Don't act like you know what you're saying. Have it seem like you're making it up as you go along," I suggested. Cece nod.

"The singing thing is nothing ."

I wasn't paying attention anymore. It wasn't on purpose or anything. My mind just... wandered.
I started thinking about Ricky. I just couldn't help it. His face when he heard my song hurt so much. And it was infuriating.

Then, I thought about his face a year ago. It was the night he told me about his home drama. I felt bad for him. He looked so scared. It made me feel guilty about being mad at him. But why should I feel guilty? I had said that I wouldn't let Ricky ruin my summer. But even then, I still felt an urge to text him.

I pulled out my phone, opened texts and found Ricky.

Hey Ricky. He answered instantly.

Hey. What are you up to?

I didn't expect him to say that. I expected something more along the lines of "Sorry, can't talk now." So I did the polite thing.

I just finished lunch. Auditions are tomorrow. You?

Nothing much, he replied. He was probably playing video games with Big Red or watching YouTube. I smiled.

"Hello? Earth to Nini!" said Ellie, pulling me out of my thoughts.

"What?"

"Your turn again silly!" she laughed.

"Oh. Sorry. Just a sec."

Ok. GTG. TTYL.

Bye Nini.

I stood up and turned off my phone.

"Who was that?" Cece asked me.

"My mom," I lied, without missing a beat.

Except Tiffany had looked over my shoulder at the screen before I could hide it. "Your mom's name is Ricky? Like your ex-boyfriend?" she asked skeptically.

"Yes...?" I replied, wincing.

Tiffany rolled her eyes. "For someone so good at acting, you'd think you would be a better liar. Why are you texting with Ricky?"