in your reflection || rini au

25. drag me down

"'what do you want from me.'" nini scoffed "can you believe that?? can you believe he actually asked that?!"

"yes." howie nodded before being nudged by the red-headed boy "uh-i mean no."

"what did you say?" seb asked hesitantly

the brunette looked down and gina jumped in

"she basically broke up with him."

a chorus of gasps erupted around them and nini furrowed her brows

"los, you were there!"

"but i didn't think it meant a break up!" he exclaimed in a hush whisper, nini shaking her head in response

"so...what does that mean? you're going to dance with him in the showcase aren't you?" seb asked cluelessly, tilting his head

"you really think miss brown is going to give him the main role after he didn't show up to auditions and left his duet partner out to dry? no, ricky's definitely getting the part." howie replied

nini's gaze dropped down and she fiddled with her fingers, leaning against the ballet bar "which means lily got the main role too, and goodbye to getting spotted for julliard."

everyone frowned.

"you don't know that for sure, neens." big red tried to assure her "miss brown let you and ricky audition as a duo. that's got to mean something."

"exactly. maybe it meant that she wants you and ricky to dance as the leads and seeing how you nailed the auditions with him, it proved her point." gina smirked

nini looked at her friend cautiously "what does that mean?"

"you'd have to be an old blind man to miss the tons of chemistry you both have." carlos said bluntly

"he doesn't take chemistry." nini mumbled, her friends all giving her a look that said 'you know what we mean'.

"look, we just need you to-"

"stop talking about this. please." the girl said in a strained voice

"nuh-uh, you need to accept the fact that you're both-"

"carlos i said stop talking!" nini whispered sharply before suddenly snapping her gaze up to the curly-haired boy who had been walking towards them earlier

"hey," he greeted

the group apart from nini all widened their eyes and exchanged looks before waving

"heeeey ricky!" howie drawled "great weather right?"

"um...yeah...?" ricky replied. he furrowed his eyebrows in confusion as he looked at the teens "did i walk in on something-?"

"nope! not at all!" nini exclaimed before carlos could say a remark

"okay..." ricky nodded, then locking eyes with the girl he added "can i talk to you?"

she nodded in response and ricky looked around at her friends who were impatiently waiting to see what he had to say

"alone?" he clarified

"o-oh! right! yup." big red nodded, pushing everyone to head over to the other end of the studio to finish warming up - of course howie, carlos and gina tried to protest but seb and big red managed to drag them all away.

"so...what's up?" nini asked, gazing up at him

ricky shook his head "i just...um-you just seemed a little upset. so..."

nini ignored the way her heart jumped and she parted her mouth "oh...no. um. it's...it's nothing. not anymore at least. i'm fine."

before he could question her further to make sure she was okay, the dance teacher walked in in silence, holding a piece of paper and pinning it to the bulletin board.

"these are the final roles. no exchanges. no disagreements." she announced, stepping aside "if there are any questions, i'll be in my office. i expect you all to get started on your dances as soon as you've read up on what role you'll be taking on."

nini and ricky exchanged nervous looks as miss brown walked back through the door and into her office. all the dancers waited a single second before rushing towards the bulletin board, of course lily had been the one to reach there first and as she stared at the paper - not giving room for anyone else to take a peek - she stepped back and let out an outrageous scream.

everyone brought their hands to their ears and lily turned sharply, rushing in nini's direction

"you got the role?? i bet this is exactly what you both wanted didn't you? ricky was my duet partner. not yours. you don't even deserve the role you should've been disqualified from the audition process!" she exclaimed, pointing her finger in the brunette's face to which she inched back from.

"lily take it easy." ricky warned, taking a step forward protectively "i chose to dance with her so that she'd get a chance. it's not her fault she's better than you. it's yours." he told her

lily scoffed, folding her arms "look at that. little miss perfect ballerina jumping from guy to guy just so she can get the part."

"hey, watch it." big red now said, walking towards them along with the others as he placed a hand on nini's shoulder who had her gaze down and had been quiet and immobilized by lily's words

"no, really. it's interesting isn't it? ricky gets injured and can't dance so nini changed her duet partner to leo. but then the second leo gets better opportunities, she runs right back to the now-shiny ricky bowen." lily snarled "are you just too pathetic to keep one guy around long enough or is it just the way you're wired?"

"you better stop talking before i punch the plastic surgery off of your face." gina said

lily looked around before back at nini. a smirk now crept onto her face at the sight of the girl so beaten down before she turned around and left them, heading back to her friends.

leo had his gaze away from nini with his jaw clenched and that made the girl look back down in defeat, hurt and guilt. she couldn't stop hearing lily's words ringing in her mind and it was eating her up.

"nini, don't listen to her." seb said, glaring back in her direction

"yeah, all she said was bullshit. you're the best here and you deserve that role more than anyone-" howie added

"it's fine guys." nini mumbled, clearing her throat "um. i just-i need to go to the bathroom. i'll be right back."

"i've got it." ricky assured, stopping gina from following her and she nodded, watching the curly-haired boy rush after the brunette girl.