helmet - nini salazar roberts

t h r e e

CAM RUSHED into the school, running past Dominic and Kourtney without even glancing at them. The two twins, who had previously been arguing, looked at each other strangely and then looked over their shoulders at the boy who was sprinting away.

What they didn't know was that Cam was late for practice, although he wasn't sure why they were going the other way. It was early in the morning, before classes started.

He walked into the auditorium, where Nini, Miss Jenn, and Carlos were already waiting. Nini jumped up as he walked up the stairs and towards Miss Jenn and Carlos.

"Sorry I'm late." apologized Cam quickly. "I-It won't happen again."

"Thank you both for an early start today." Miss Jenn smiled, almost robotically, ignoring Cam's apology. "Let's begin."

Cam looked around, and his brows furrowed together as he noted it was just Nini and himself on the stage.

"Wait, it's just the two of us?" he said, puzzled. Miss Jenn nodded positively.

"We're diving into page ninety-seven." Miss Jenn informed them, handing each of them a single page of the script.

"You mean the last scene?" asked Nini, tilting her head. She did that whenever she was confused.

Miss Jenn hummed.

"You want us to rehearse this?" Cam continuously looked back and forth between his script and Miss Jenn. "It's just one line."

"There's two..." mumbled Nini quietly, glaring down at her shoes.

"And then there's the kiss." shrugged Miss Jenn. Cam's jaw dropped.

"The what?" he uttered, completely and utterly shocked.

Nini began stammering uncontrollably, her face turning a bright red. "I-I d-I don't... r-remember a kiss in wha-what we read yesterday!"

"It was very much there in the original film." Miss Jenn assured them confidently.

"I only remember a hug." Cam corrected, taking a small step away from Nini.

"The kiss ended up on the cutting room floor. Little racy for its time."

Carlos's mouth hung open. "Oh, too far..." Miss Jenn looked at him quizzically.

+

"So... you're supposed to kiss Nini at the end of the play?" questioned Ashlyn, a little shocked as her eyes moved over to EJ's table, where Nini was.

"Yeah, I guess." muttered Cam, shrugging as he played around with the food on his plate.

"Oh, really?" groaned Dom. "Well that's just stupid."