the exception

17. surprises

{Tuesday}

Nina's pov

I rub my eyes as my alarm obnoxiously rings on for minutes and minutes. I throw my hand over to the side table, pressing around on the phone screen to stop it. Once it goes quiet in my room, I roll out of my bed and stumble into my bathroom. I yawn as I throw my hair up into a messy bun and begin to splash my face with cold water. After that, I continue on with my skin care routine before letting my hair down. I begin brushing out the knots when my phone starts ringing. I answer the facetime call coming from Kourt, Los, and Seb.

"Hey guys!", I greet.

"Nina!", they all shout.

"Woah- hey there", I chuckle, "What's got you guys so pumped?"

"We didn't see you yesterday?? And you've been gone since...you know...", Kourtney explains.

"We're just happy you actually answered our call this time.", Carlos says, hinting how annoyed he was with me.

I awkwardly chuckle, "Yeah uh sorry about that..."

"Is everything okay now? Are you okay?", Seb asks me.

I nod, "I'm doing better, thanks."

"Are you coming to school today?", Seb asks.

"No stupid, that's what she's getting ready right now. So, she can just not go anywhere.", Carlos sarcastically says.

I let out an awkward chuckle as I finish brushing my hair and begin putting on a light load of make-up.

"Well, I'll see ya'll at school, okay?", I say.

Everybody nods their heads before saying goodbye and hanging up.

+

Ricky's pov

Alright, time to put this plan in action. And I'm hoping it doesn't backfire. I walk through the entrance doors of East High and take a left, then a right, and walk straight down the hallway. I begin to approach three kids. And these three kids may or may not be Nina's friends.

"Ricky? What do you want?", Kourtney snaps.

I sigh, "Listen, I need your help."

"Why would we wanna help you?", Carlos questions.

"I can explain."

"Well then you better get goin, the bell is ringing in five minutes."

"Okay, I know you know about what I did to your friend Nina. And I've apologized multiple times and all that stuff. And we had this fight in the diner she works at, and she basically said I can come back when I can prove to her that I'll never hurt her again. So, I need your help with a plan I have. You just gotta trust me please.", I finish.

"How do we know this isn't some plan that's...I don't know, rigged by you and your rude friends?", Seb asks.

"Dude, c'mon- did you not see the whole argument I had with Gina yesterday? If not, I basically said I'm not friends with her anymore and now my other two friends, EJ and Red, aren't talking to me either. So, I don't have any friends now. Or in other words, no rude friends to rig this."

They sit there and stare at me for a few moments, making me nervous. I really wanted them to agree.

Kourtney shrugs, "We'll think about it."

I sigh in relief that it's not a complete rejection, "Okay, thank you."

Just then, the bell rings and everybody scatters off to class. And I begin heading towards first period, hoping to see Nina there.