Too Much Time Together - RINI

chapter two: sorry i can't hear you

"No way," Ricky whispers looking back down at the paper.

Nina Salazar-Roberts.

Nini walks right past him, shooting him a glare. "Hi, can I switch partners?" she asked promptly, wanting to get rid of this situation as soon as possible.

"Yeah, can we?" Ricky added, Nini, rolling her eyes in response. The teacher sighed moving her eyes between the two, probably done with their constant bickering by now.

"Sorry, you're stuck with each other." she shrugs.

"But-" their teacher puts her hand up, silencing the girl. She then calls up the next student, Ricky turning toward Nini, he sees her visibly deflate. She turns toward her desk, hastily sitting down. Ricky walks back to his seat slowly, dropping the small slip of paper on his way there. The universe was never on his side, what did he do to make Nini his partner. The rest of the period was half spent Ricky shooting daggers at Nini and the other half ended up giving himself a headache. He kept running over different scenarios that Nini can turn this against him.

Anyone who knew of the two of them, knew of their rivalry. Last year they spent five minutes, in the middle of class, arguing over if Nini's grammar was correct or not (she wasn't). Ricky looks towards the clock, the bell should be ringing any second now. Come on, come on, come on.

The bell rings, finally. Ricky grabs his stuff, rushing out of the classroom. He hears a groan behind him before a sadly all too familiar voice greets his ear.

"Okay when are we working on this thing?" he sighs at the sound of Nini behind him, her footsteps struggling to keep up with his quick pace.

"Nini chill for a minute, we got it today," he replies, not even looking at her. She's now practically running beside him as he pushes open the doors to the cafeteria. He takes a seat as his usual spot at the end of the table, all the way across from Nini. Except for today apparently.

"What are you doing?" he asks, taken aback as she takes a seat next to where he's seated. She uncaps her pen, opening to a blank page in her journal.

"Getting started on our project," she says in a duh tone.

"Why can't you sit over there?" he nods his head to where she usually sits.

"Do you expect me to work with you all the way over there?"

"Well I wouldn't have to hear your voice, so it'd be a lot better." she gives a blank stare as he gets up dramatically, flailing his arms as he takes a seat in her usual spot.

"Seriously." her eyes close in on him, her teeth chewing at the inside of her cheek.

He puts his hand up to his ear, leaning forward. "Sorry I can't hear, what?" he practically yells, the girl's face turning a scarlet color. She looks around, her mouth opening and closing quickly.

"Shut up, you're making a scene," he noticed a light British accent coming out of her mouth, causing him to smile in reaction. Good, she's mad. He points to his ear, shaking his head, his curls falling in his face.

"You gotta learn how to speak up, I really can't hear you."

"You're so annoying!" she yells at him.

"I'm glowing?" he yells back, the girl abruptly stands up in her seat, giving him a death glare. She's on the verge of blowing up, the boy smirking at the expression on her face, the tips of her ears heating up.

"Ricky Bowen I will-" she stops though as Seb and Carlos interrupt, confused expressions on their faces.

"What's happening here?" Seb starts, looking between the two.