𝐀𝐑𝐓𝐒𝐘 - 𝐡𝐬𝐦𝐭𝐦𝐭𝐬 | ✔

⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ 𝒙. 𝐭𝐨𝐨 𝐠𝐨𝐨𝐝 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐡𝐢𝐦

𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐭𝐞𝐧
━━ 𝒕𝒐𝒐 𝒈𝒐𝒐𝒅 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒉𝒊𝒎

Just as Juliette had not expected to find Ricky Bowen and Nini Salazar-Roberts fighting in the hallways the first day of junior year, she had not expected to find E.J. Caswell and Nini Salazar-Roberts fighting in the hallways that day.

"I was bribing a hacker to crack into my phone to recover a message you deleted it when you stole it," the brunette told E.J. loudly enough for everyone there to hear. Everyone tried hard not to turn around and look at them, not wanting to be rude, but it was impossible not to hear the argument. Nini was making sure that everyone knew what E.J. had done.

"What, why do you think that I...?" he started, but Nini was not in the mood to deal with him to he harshly interrupted the boy.

"Please! Gina is not the 'wonderstudy' I need to worry about, is she?"

Conscious of the fact that everyone was staring at them, E.J. tried to take Nini to a side to talk to her privately but she refused to be touched at all. Instead, she stood in the same spot but lowered her voice. That made it impossible to make out what they were saying anymore but Juliette could swear she had heard the words 'Ricky' and 'I love you', which kind of worried her.

"Don't make this about Ricky!" Nini exclaimed again, but E.J. continued with his low voice, so she could not hear his reply. Of course, the most popular senior of the school could not afford people to know that he was being dumped by his younger girlfriend.

After a heated argument that looked like a definitive break-up, Nini joined the rest of the cast, her cheeks still red from the conversation. Upon asking why they could not get in, she found out that Natalie had lost her hamster somewhere and was trying to find it so, in the meantime, Juliette approached Nini to see if she was okay.

"I am not going to ask if you are okay because I know you are not so... just so you know, I am always here if you need to talk or anything. We can have a game night after rehearsal if you need to take your mind off of everything."

"Thank you, Juliette. You are honestly one of the kindest persons I've ever met," Nini smiled to the girl, hugging her shortly, "I was planning on hanging with Kourtney after rehearsal, come please."

"Only if you really want me to. That way we will avoid my annoying sisters asking for Ricky over and over again," she laughed, making Nini repeat her gesture.

"Oh, the two redhead twins? They are hilarious, I heard them talking to Ricky a couple times when we were together and I honestly love them."

"Yeah well they have a weird crush on him and are obsessed with us getting together. Don't tell Ricky, though. And I'm sure that they would love you as well."

"I won't tell him. But hey, maybe you should try," she encouraged her, "maybe he'll move on that way."

But their conversation was interrupted by the door being opened, although Natalie had still not found her hamster. Maybe it was on her locker.

—

That day, the art club worked in a separate room so they could have enough space for all their materials now that they were starting with the costumes. That is why Juliette was so surprised when she found Ricky sitting on a bench outside school with his head on his hands way before rehearsal was supposed to be over. She told her friends to wait for her a second and approached the boy, coughing slightly in order not to startle him.

"Oh, hey Jul," he smiled lightly, although it was obvious that he did not want to smile at all. His eyes were full of tears threatening to escape but, of course, Ricky would not allow them to.

"Hey," she sat by his side, "are you okay?"

"Yeah, sure, why would you ask that?"

"Well, you are about to cry," she replied, looking directly at his eyes. At that precise moment, one tear fell from Ricky's overflowed eyes. Juliette, who hated to see people cry, was quick to hug him, allowing Ricky to cry into her shoulder while he gripped her sweatshirt and pulled her closer.

"My parents are splitting up," he confessed, leaving the girl completely aghast, "I don't know why I am telling you this, I don't want to bother you with my problems but... I don't know what to do. I'm scared, Jul."

"Hey, Ricky, it's okay. Cry all you need. I am so sorry," she bit her lip, separating for a second to look at him, "I can't tell you that I know what you are going through because I really don't but you can always talk to me if you need to. If you need to get out of your house you.. I don't know, you can come to mine or call me or anything you need. My mom makes amazing cookies and hot chocolate."

"Thanks, Juliette. It really does mean a lot."

"Some times, change is for the better. Couples come and go and it may be good for both your parents to... rest. You want them to be happy, right?" she stopped until Ricky slowly nodded with his head, "then maybe this is the way for them to be."

Ricky just smiled again and hugged her petite body. They just stayed there for a couple of seconds, both being able to sniff the others' cologne and with their eyes closed. However, they had to break the hug when they realize that everyone was waiting for them so Juliette looked at Ricky, looking for a sign that he was okay, and when she was sure, she just lightly squeezed her hand and joined Nini and Kourtney as the former had asked her to earlier.

—

"How do people like that live with themselves?" Nini asked, sitting in front of Kourtney and besides Juliette at the local café, "we've been dating for two months and I don't even know this person."

"Nini, it's called a blind spot, everybody's got one," Kourtney tried to calm the girl.

"If he's willing to do that to somebody, how long before he tries to poison me? Maybe he wants both leading roles." Apparently, E.J. had confessed that Nini had only got the lead role at Summer camp because he purposely poisoned the girl that was supposed to have it. And now, the brunette was on edge the entire time, even yelling at two poor teenagers that were kissing in the café.

This incident had completely changed Nini in a matter of hours. Now, she was willing to go yell at a senior to defend Kourtney. Never in life would Juliette have imaged hearing those words from Nini's mouth. While Kourtney went to get her best friend some food, the redhead stayed with Nini, trying to comfort her. Until Ahslyn entered the café for about ten seconds.

She left as soon as she saw Nini, making the girl feel bad. So Nini went after her to clarify everything whereas Kourtney pleaded for Juliette to change the subject so Nini could focus on things other than E.J.

"So, are you girls going to homecoming?" Juliette asked, as soon as Nini entered the establishment and sat on the table again.

"Nope, I have decided that I am not going this year," Nini replied, leaving the two other girls completely astonished, "how about you?"

"I... yeah, I was planning on going."

"Uuuuh, got a date?" Kourtney questioned.

"Not really, I guess I'll go with Alex and the rest of the art club."

"And how about you ask Ricky to go? I know he is going with Big Red and..." Kourtney replied again, prompting the girl to take action.

"That is absolutely not happening. I could never."

"But do you like him or something? Because we saw what happened back and school and..."

"I may have a tiny crush on him," she admitted, trusting the girls with her secret, "but he still likes you. And let's be honest, I am not Ricky Bowen's type."

"Hey, don't say that," Nini comforted her, "if I know something about Ricky is that he does not have a type. Don't put yourself down like that, you are beautiful and your hair catches all the attention as soon as you enter the room. Besides, he has no chance with me and he deserves to be happy."            

"You're probably too good for him anyway," Kourtney remarked, making them laugh. That is exactly what Nini needed. A laugh with friends.