Translucent Melody || rini au

33

ricky arrived at school the next day, still completely down and feeling hopeless about everything

he couldn't focus on what he was doing and he was doing and it was driving him crazy

but he also knew that he just had to leave it.

when he arrives at school, he sees more staring and there's more whispering around him which makes forgetting nini all the more difficult

he continues walking into the school hallways and sees ashlyn and big red talking at the lockers

"hey guys," he says quietly, opening his and taking his books

"hey dude, how are you?" big red asks cautiously

"i'm fine." he says shortly, closing his locker

"how about we go to the movies tonight?" ashlyn asks

ricky adjusts his bag "sorry guys, but i can't, i have homework."

he walks off and ashlyn and big red sigh, watching him

ricky took a turn, not noticing where he was going until he knocked into someone, his books falling to the ground

"oh i'm sorry-"

he freezes when he hears nini's voice and takes his stuff,

nini realized it was ricky when she got a good look at him and they both stood there watching each other

"uh-" he swallows and hands her the pink notebook to which she just takes

"thanks." she mumbles before rushing past him

he turns around and watches her disappear around the corner and lets out a breath

"that wasn't awkward at all," he mutters sarcastically as he continues making his way down the halls

***

nini got out of her class and made her way to the cafeteria, seeing people continuously stare at her and talk about whatever other rumors they heard

she was confused as to why people even cared and missed being invisible all too much

as nini made her way further into the cafeteria, she sees ricky at his table with his friends - well only big red and ashlyn - playing with the food in front of him

she took a deep breath and looked down as she walked past him, feeling his eyes shift up towards her but she kept going until she arrived at her table, seeing her friends already seated as they talked about something

"no way!" kourtney laughs

"i'm not kidding!" ej exclaims with pride

"what?" nini asks confused

"well, ej says that this cheerleader came up to talk to him," seb explains

"not just any cheerleader! brookelynn! the captain of the squad! i mean, she's nice and-"

"oh he's whipped already," nini smirks

she gets nudged softly by her best friend, making them all laugh as they continue eating

nini feels her smile slowly fade as her mind reoccupies itself with the thoughts of ricky

she looked down at her food as her friends continued  speaking amongst themselves but ej noticed the shift in her attitude, frowning slightly at the knowledge of what she was thinking about

he looks to see seb and kourtney having yet another debate about a movie; clearly they were so into the conversation that they weren't paying attention to their surroundings, so ej looks at nini

"hey," he whispers

she looks up and smiles weakly

"maybe you should talk to him." he says

nini sighs deeply and glances back at ricky, who seemed to be smiling at what his friends were saying

"no," she replies "he won't want to,"

"you don't know that neens,"

"i saw him in the hall," nini recalls "he didn't stop me to try and say anything."

ej sighs sadly and looked back at ricky before to nini

"but-it's fine. i'm fine." she says simply "it's better this way."

if she was talking to anyone else, they would've thought she was certain of her words

but ej could hear the uncertainty she was showing in it. it was very small but it was there. almost like she was trying to convince herself of her words

—

all the boys left the changing rooms after a long practice, heading home

ricky closed his gym locker and swung his backpack over his shoulder, holding his duffel bag in his hand as he started walking towards the exit

he opened the door and abruptly stopped when he saw the raven-haired boy leaning against the wall on his phone

ej looked up and sighed "finally,"

ricky raises an eyebrow "why are you here?"

"i need to talk to you." he says

the curly-haired boy sighs "if this is about nini-"

"it is about nini, and you need to listen."

ricky shakes his head "i'm not doing this."

he walks past ej but the raven-haired boy scoffs

"fine, then can i ask you one question?"

ricky stops and turns around, taking a deep breath "sure,"

ej walks towards him "why are you giving up so easily?"

ricky clenches his jaw and looks away

"why are you walking away?-why aren't you going to fight for nini?" ej questions

"because it's not up to me, it's up to her. and she hates me-"

"that's not true and we both know it ricky." ej tells him firmly "we both know nini and we both know what she wants, and that's you. even if she won't admit it, she wants you to fight for her, so why won't you do it?!"

"why are you even doing this?!" ricky exclaims "you're also supposed to hate me after everything-"

"i know that you hurt her." ej says "but i also know that what you both have going on is much stronger and bigger than what you've done. don't you see that you guys can barely handle being apart from each other?"

ricky looks down at the floor and ej takes a deep breath

"so, are you going to fight?"