in your reflection || rini au

01. hopelessly devoted

the music flooded the dance studio as the brunette girl kept in precise time, her eyes closed as she focused herself on perfecting every move she made with no room for any mistakes or out-of-place details.

she performed a pirouette before moving her left leg backwards to halt herself, her arms reaching forward as she exhaled deep and tired breaths but held the position for many seconds before she stood upright

her fingers reached to tuck back any loose strands of her brown hair from her sweaty face, slowly walking towards her duffel bag placed on the floor near the door and taking her water bottle to drink from before closing it and exhaling deeply

when looking up at the clock that ticked though, she widened her eyes in surprise and quickly shuffled to grab her shoes and bag, rushing out towards the changing rooms as quick as possible.

+

"-and here she is, student council president, head of the prom committee and our tardy best friend: nina salazar-roberts!" a red-headed boy grinned as he watched the very girl rush into his car at the passenger seat, dropping her two bags at her feet as she closed the door and exhaled

"you know, you do that every morning and it's never funny." nini grinned, putting on her seatbelt as big red chuckled

"well, then i just won't give you our usual morning coffees." he said with a playful expression, nini gasping as she reached for the cup he put in the holder between them

"what would i do without you?" she sighed

"never have a life?"

"hey!" she exclaimed as he started driving "i have a life."

"where were you this morning?" big red asked knowingly, his eyes on the road

nini popped her lips as she fiddled with the cup of coffee in her hands "...sleeping?"

big red snorted a laugh as he glanced at her and she sighed

"alright, fine i was at the studio again-but i needed to get that last part of my solo right for auditions-"

"the auditions for the showcase aren't until next month neens," big red said with a raised eyebrow "plus, you're like the most amazing dancer to have ever existed at wdc, you'll get the lead."

"you don't know that." nini mumbled "plus it's not enough red...did you know that juilliard only accepts five percent of their candidates?? five percent!! that's like-five in one hundred-"

"the mathletes are crumbling without you." big red joked, nini playfully hitting his shoulder "and, yes i know, you've told me this ever since you got a laptop because that was the first thing you searched up on it."

"i have a perfect plan set out." nini said simply "nothing's going to get in the way of that."

"and no one." big red added with a look, the girl exhaling

"not this again-"

"i'm just saying-"

"i don't need to hear it red."

"but-"

"don't miss the turn!" nini exclaimed as she pointed in front of her, her best friend sighing as he turned the vehicle to take a right and decided to let the topic go as they arrived at their school.

parking the car, the lot was filled with students arriving and entering the building for another monday morning; another week to get through once more.

the pair got out of the car with their bags and made their way through the car park, nini listening intently with a laugh at her friend's story of his weekend at his house with his family as they entered the school to head to their lockers

"-she almost broke the spoon she was so mad."

"oh my god," nini laughed loudly as she opened her locker, jumping suddenly when hearing a loud greeting from another voice

"the queens have arrived!" a curly-haired girl exclaimed, followed by three boys behind her

"you always yell that in my ear," nini exhaled deeply with a small smile, taking her books out

"and you always get scared." gina pointed out with a grin

"and you never let me say it." the blonde-boy sighed heavily, everyone chuckling

"did you do the bio homework?" howie asked nini, who nodded brightly "great! can i borrow it and maybe summarize it in my own words?"

nini sighed "why don't you ever just do the homework set?"

"it's too much work." howie whined "plus, i found this new video on youtube with this tutting technique i wanted to try out-"

"oh is it the same girl i sent you?" gina asked interested, the boy nodding "i loved that one-i can't even do it yet..."

carlos gasped "gina porter and a dance sequence she can't figure out?"

"do we need photographic proof of this very moment?!" big red exclaimed, faking a camera with his hands as they all laughed while gina rolled her eyes playfully

"ha ha, very funny guys." she said with a shake of her head before looking at the brunette girl who had closed her locker "speaking of, how's the solo coming?"

"it's coming..." nini shrugged as they started walking down the hall "it's not perfect-"

"which is nini definition for '99.9 percent perfect." seb said

"it's the details that count guys, you of all people should know this." nini said, everyone nodding in agreement "it's always the last move i keep...wobbling? i don't know."

"we'll check it out today." gina reassured her with a smile "but first; red, los, howie and i have a much tougher dance to conquer and thats trig, so we'll see you both at lunch."

nini and seb smiled at their friends before they all rushed off towards their class, the two continuing their way down the halls talking over random things

"-and then nessie kept mooing because of the darkness and obviously i couldn't do anything about it because it's night you know?"

nini shook her head with a silent laugh at another one of seb's farm animal stories as they entered their english class, taking their usual seats at the front and sitting down

"so yeah, that's how my weekend went." seb sighed "you?"

nini took a deep breath "let's see; homework, work at the diner, dance and i got to watch a bit of gilmore girls."

"oh! that's what we should do for movie night tomorrow after dance." seb suggested

nini nodded with her eyes wide in agreement before they moved up to the teacher walking in, closing the door behind her to start the class as nini glanced to the empty seat at the very back of the class.

feeling her stomach turn just faintly, she cleared her throat to herself as she forcefully looked away, moving her attention to the front of the class and keeping it there. she knew how to focus on things that really mattered to her. and what was deep; far and hidden in her mind was not it. not yet at least.