𝘴𝘢𝘷𝘦𝘥 𝘣𝘺 𝘺𝘰𝘶. [𝘢 𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘪 𝘢𝘶]

13

CARNIVALS ARE SINISTER things. They're the best place for bad people to disguise as regular citizens, or maybe that's just my paranoia talking. The rides are fun I suppose, but every time a carnival comes around, I always end up hearing about something going wrong.

The only topic at school today has been the carnival tonight. I've overheard people talking about going in costume because of Halloween, and I've heard other people straight up saying they're only going to do drugs. Carnivals aren't even about the rides anymore. It's about doing things you're not supposed to and being reckless.

"Nini!" I hear one of my teammates call as I dribble up the court. I pass to them and watch as they shoot the ball, cheering when it falls into the hoop. I had a game right after school that lasted until 5. The carnival starts at 7 and goes till 11, and Gina insists we stay the whole time. Since there was a game today, I'm definitely going to be tired and will probably end up leaving around 10 anyways.

I look over in the stands to find my mom and wave at her, only to see Ej cheering. I've never seen him at one of our games before. Ej played basketball though, so that didn't confuse me too much. What did confuse me, was Ricky standing right next to him. He locks eyes with me and smiles, mouthing the words 'good pass'.

I furrow my eyebrows and tilt my head to the side, wanting to respond but then one of my teammates grabs my arms and pulls me away. The game was over now, my pass being the last shot of the game. My teammate pulls me into the locker room and pats me on the shoulder before walking away to change. I turn around and run out of the locker room and back onto the court to try and find Ricky again to ask him why he was here, but it's no use. The crowd was all swarming around the exit of the gym, and it was like finding a needle in a haystack.

I change very quickly and rush out of the locker room with my basketball bag over my shoulder as I enter the lobby, immediately starting to look around for that certain head of brown curls. Eventually I find him, only to sigh when I see him talking to Lily. In that moment, all I could focus on was how badly I wished I was Lily. He's actually nice to her and seems to be friends with her.

I roll my eyes, not even caring about why he was at my game anymore and start looking around for my mom instead. There was a part of me that felt sad about Ricky. Why is it that I am the only one he refuses to be friends with? It's not a good feeling in the world to know that someone has such strong hatred for you that you're the only person they're not nice to.

When I can't locate my mom, I start to look around for Gina and find her immediately. She was talking to Ej, which really started to make me feel excluded. Where's Jack when I need him?

I start looking for Jack just to make me feel less lonely, only to literally groan out loud when I see him talking to a girl as well. I'm getting really sick of this. Is it national ignore Nini day?

I decide to leave the building completely and sit on the curb of the sidewalk, facing the parking lot. I text my mom and tell her to meet me outside as I wrap my arms around myself to keep my bare arms warm. For some reason, I thought it would be a good idea to bring a tank top to change into after my game even though I knew it wasn't very warm outside today.