kid krow | rini

twenty-six

Ricky and the rest of the plastics spent their spring break just like that; drunk and all over social media about it. Nini stopped watching at about the point when Heather started posting tipsy videos of her talking about how amazing Ricky was while wearing his clothes. For her, spring break was mostly spent in bed or at her piano.

The very first night that Ricky and his friends spent posting videos, she posted a song called 'Affluenza.' If he'd seen it, he didn't mention it. Either way, Nini didn't care because she was writing what she felt. Part of this was because he'd started posting old songs like 'Online Love' and, for some reason, reposted Nini's song 'Can We Be Friends?' It all annoyed her, but there was a big part of her that was still so incredibly sad.

There was a new song that she'd written and just recorded roughly on her phone. She'd, unfortunately, shut Carlos and Kourtney out sometime during the break. So when they returned to school, she was excited to show them this new song. She plopped herself down at lunch, a brighter visage than she'd had in weeks.

"What's so exciting?" Carlos asked. "I'm experiencing FOMO."

She smiled as the unpacked her lunch. "I wrote a good song!" Kourtney and Carlos exchanged a look and she settled on, "At least I think so. I wanted to show you guys."

"I'm ready," Kourtney said, fully prepared for something upbeat and preppy considering Nini's mood.

Nini fished around in her bag and then her pockets for a second and mumbled, "I think I left my headphones in my locker, do you have yours? I can airdrop it to you."

"Okay, let me get them. Carlos... there isn't any ear wax in these, so don't return yours with wax in it," Kourtney warned. "We will have to fight."

While the two were bickering, Nini was mindlessly scrolling through her camera roll to find the video she'd quickly recorded to show her friends. She intended on making a better recording of it if her friends also liked it, so the video was just her phone propped up on her keyboard and probably sounded very rough at best. When she found the video, she tapped the airdrop icon. "You're the smiley face, right?" she questioned as she tapped the little contact bubble.

"No," Kourtney mumbled, her mouth full. As the line rounded the bubble and flashed the word 'sent,' she corrected, "Mine is the smiley face with the little evil eyebrows. I just turned it on."

Nini froze. Someone in the cafeteria had just received that video. "What?" she mumbled to Kourtney. "The smiley... that was a contact of mine?"

"You sent it?" Carlos asked as Nini started to heave. "Hey, calm down! You record those chin down right? So it isn't your face and it could be about anything right?"

The girl's head shook rapidly. She messed up. That was it. "No," she admitted. "My face is in this one because it wasn't official. And... her name is in it. The song is literally her name. Oh my God. Oh my God, what did I just do? Oh my God."

"Nini, calm down," Kourtney said. "You don't even know who got it. Take a deep breath. We can just look around and see who got it and ask them to delete it."

The trio agreed to themselves and turned around as they looked around the cafeteria. Nini's eyes caught a glimpse of the plastics' table where they all seemed to be leaning into the center. Heather looked up and made direct eye contact with Nini. She looked confused and sort of sad.

"There's a... harsh line in there," Nini mumbled as she shoved her things back into her bag. "I sent it to her. I have to go, I have to leave."

There was no stopping her, she was out of the cafeteria before her friends could comment, but they did manage to catch the plastics watching her like hawks. Kourtney and Carlos were quick to pack up and follow her out of the bustling area. As hot on her trails as they were, it was like they couldn't catch up.

Nini managed to tuck herself away in the empty dressing room area connected to the auditorium stage. Her breathing was heavy as she paced back and forth, fanning herself with her hands. "It can't possibly be that bad," Kourtney said in an effort to comfort her. So she crouched down and dug her songbook out of her backpack. The pages of this new song were written on scrap paper and crammed between some pages, so she pulled them out and handed them to her best friend before allowing herself to crumble on the floor, her knees pulled up to her chest.

"Let's see," Carlos murmured as his eyes scanned the page. Then, he mumbled out, "'She's such an angel, but then again, kinda wish she were dead.' Oh... Nini..."

"I know," Nini groaned. "I'm gonna melt into the floor and die."

Kourtney shook her head solemnly and crouched down next to Nini. Gently, she tucked the papers back into the book and stowed it away in her book bag. "Everyone feels like that at least a little when their ex starts dating someone new. You're human."

"Why couldn't I have been a penguin?" she whined. "They can't write stupid songs and they mate for life."

"And they don't have a quiz next period," Carlos pointed out.

"Not helping," Kourtney griped.

They sat and attempted to comfort Nini for a while, but nothing could prepare her for the walk to her locker and the next class. Nothing would be able to fix what she had just done. She kind of figured she could hold her breath and get through her quiz and then just... skip the rest of the day. Mama C would understand.

Kourtney would never tell Nini that she was glad to have to peel off early to get to her next class, but it was true. Heather was really, really sweet and had nothing to do with Ricky's choices, so she couldn't stomach seeing her while standing alongside Nini. There was also the added factor that Nini's relationship with Ricky was a secret. So Nini was suffering from admitting jealousy over a boy no one even knew she dated.

"Heather, get behind me," EJ snarled as Nini walked past him toward her locker. "Who knows what this freak might try to do to you."

"I'd be more worried about Ricky," Ashlyn laughed. "Clearly she's obsessed with him."

Nini caught Ricky's eye just briefly as her cheeks turned the brightest of reds. He looked away quickly, instinctively moving closer to Heather. She felt awful for those lyrics, but no one was meant to hear them. Honestly, she kind of assumed her friends would at least force her to change that line. They unfortunately never even got the chance to.

"You're like, actually insane, you know that Roberts?" EJ laughed. Gina ushered Heather down the hall and presumably to their next class; Ricky went too. "Has Ricky ever even breathed in your direction?"

"Just leave her alone, EJ. She obviously needs help," Ashlyn told him.

EJ began to walk away but turned back to say, "I hope your mom has a good time finding a new job. No way is someone with a psycho daughter who's after my cousin staying at my company."