HSMTMTS: The Core Four 2

72

Nini's POV

I walk down the halls with Kourtney, explaining everything that happened during the mission. "So he just stole Ricky'd powers? Just like that?" She asks. "And he lost control? I'm sorry, I need time to process all of this information."

"IT was crazy. EJ hasn't talked to any of us since. When we ask, he'll just brush past us. I hope Lily finds those ingredients for her potion soon." I hear my phone chime. It was either more comments on my music or Jack sending me one of his daily corny jokes.

"Oh, speaking of person reinvention..."

"Oh, come on."

"I'm getting recommendations for your songs from people who don't even know me! That's like famous adjacent." I mean, I wouldn't call myself famous perse. Nw Lightning, she's famous, Nini is just popular, I guess.

"I'll admit, it feels good to put myself out there."

"I'm all about it. But, what does you-know-who think of your new brand?"

"Jack? Oh, he's been so supportive. And I guess since I'm famous now, he's using me for tons of stuff since I'm 'famous' and he's my 'entourage.' I believe he put it 'if you won't abuse your power, I'll do it for you.'" I can't help but giggle and blush. How am I just realizing how funny and cute he is?

"I'm not talking about your weirdly relatable crush who we need to discuss further. I'm talking about Chaos."

"Oh, we actually haven't talked much. So, maybe he didn't notice."

"Oh, he noticed," she tells me. I turn my head and see Ricky standing awkwardly behind me. "Yo, Nini."

"Ricky, hey" I smile, but this was super awkward. For me and probably for him."

"Oh, what was, Carlos?" Kourtney shouts. "You need me for a costume fitting even though you're not even here so this makes no sense. I got you. Duty calls" she quickly scurries away. Thank you, Kourtney.

"You're not returning my text," Ricky tells me.

"I've been really busy" I open my locker. "For 3 days? We haven't talked since North High." Yeah, and I have my reasons. I'm just not ready to talk about it yet. "Yeah, I mean with EJ and all, crazy weekend."

"Because of your new music account?"

"Uh, it's not actually a big deal."

"Your music's fire, Nina," a girl with a violin tells me. "Okay, thanks. Okay, maybe it's sort of a thing."

"So, I'm just gonna ask. Did you make that channel because of everything I said about keeping yourself under glass? I mean, is this you un-glassed?"

Under my arm was staring to glow blue, but Ricky didn't see it, so I just slammed my locker. Then I hear thunder from outside. Did I do that? "No offense, Ricky, but it's not actually about you."

"Okay. Then, why's the channel called 'Nina?'" I'm sorry. "Good morning, East High, and welcome to Career day" I hear EJ say over the announcements. That was a good distraction to make me think about what Ricky said. Not everything I do revolves around someone else.

"I'm just saying when you make a point of changing your name on Social Media, it feels kinda personal."

"It is personal, to me, Nina's my given name. Look, I-I'm being my own person. And that seems like something you can maybe be happy for me about. There are so many people who are inspired by my channel. Like this girl in London said that the Rose Song helped her through a rocky time."

"Wow. Seriously?"

"Literally those exact words" I hand him my phone to look at all the comments. I still can't believe this is happening to me.