over the years (rini) | ✓

ten || ninth grade

It was the week of homecoming and as a freshman in high school, Nini couldn't be more excited. Her first school dance! She has watched so many movies about prom and homecoming that her expectations for school dances were high. Maybe a little too high—like unrealistically high.

What bothered her a little was it seemed like everyone was getting asked to homecoming. Literally. It felt like everyday there was a another hoco proposal in the hallways. It was the same old routine. The boy or girl comes in with a cheesy poster, the boy or girl they're asking is shocked, they say yes, then they both hug while everyone cheers. It was cute in the beginning, but at this point Nini was sick of it.

Maybe she was jealous she wasn't one of the girls being asked. For a while she thought that was the reason why she was annoyed, but later she came to the realization that she actually wasn't jealous. She didn't want to go with just anyone. Nini was simply disappointed that Ricky had not asked her, but she knew she had no reason to be sad. Mostly because she's never mentioned it to him and he never showed any sign of interest in her.

As far as she knew, Ricky (thankfully) didn't have a date to the dance either, but unlike Nini, it wasn't because nobody asked him. He was actually asked a week ago by Lucy, but he said no. It was a very uncomfortable encounter. Nini would know, she was right next to him. It was unbelievably awkward (not to mention her jealousy was shooting through the roof) and as much as Nini was secretly hoping he was say no to her, she couldn't help but feel bad for thinking that when she watched Lucy's face fall and walk away heartbroken. Ricky felt awful, but he told Nini it would be worse if he did go with her even though he didn't want to. He didn't want to lead her on.

Right now, Nini's homecoming plans were simple. She was going to go in a group with her girl friends, which included Kourtney and a girl named Ashlyn she met in choir. Ricky was going with Big Red in a group with some boys Nini didn't know that well.

Nini and Ricky didn't talk about homecoming that much. In fact, they've barely talked about it since Lucy proposed to him. It was just a subject that they vaguely mentioned and one of them always immediately switched the topic.

But for the most part, Nini was really excited for the dance.

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The four hours leading up to the homecoming dance were pure chaos. For the first two hours, Kourtney had come over to Nini's house to get ready together. By the time they were done, the bathroom looked like a hurricane had blown through it. Curling irons and hair straighteners were sprawled across the sink counter while the numerous amount of various makeup products also covered the top of her vanity , occasionally with a concealer or foundation spill. The room smelled like a mix of hairspray and perfume, which was strong enough to almost give both of the girls a headache. At least Nini and Kourtney looked flawless!

Kourtney straightened her hair so it looked longer than usual and put on blue eyeshadow, which really made her eyes pop. The reason why she chose blue is because it matched her dress, which went down to her knees and flared out at the end. It looked stunning on her. Nini was wearing a red dress. Her brown curls framed her sweetheart face and she put on little makeup, saying that anything else besides concealer and mascara made her face feel cakey.

The next two hours were a whirlwind. Nini and Kourtney headed over to Ashlyn's house for a before party. They ate pizza for dinner before taking a lot of pictures, which is what most people did before the dance. Nini's camera roll was flooded with photos just from the last hour.