Nina Salazar-Roberts is the most popular girl at East High. Not only is she the cheer captain, but she's friends with the entire football team and adored by most of the school's population.
Richard Bowen is the new kid. He's been playing football fo...
Nini has tried to approach Ricky three separate times now, but he seems to be hellbent on avoiding her.
Nini sighs as she sits at home staring at a photo of her foster family and thinking about how she wishes she hadn't blown up on Ricky.
"What's wrong, Nini?" Nini hears her foster sister, Lia, ask.
Lia is only six and was born into the system, so Nini knows she doesn't truly understand what it means that she's in this home with other kids. Nini likes to let her think that they really are a family, even though this place will never feel like a home to Nini.
Nini is grateful to have been placed into a nice home, as her foster brother, Kyler, has told her about some of the houses he's been through in the past. Nini really hopes that Lia can stay in this home for as long as possible.
"It's nothing, Li. Thank you for asking." Nini answers with a smile.
Lia smiles joyfully and runs off to play with her toys. Lia is one of the many reasons Nini keeps her happy face on. She needs to make sure Lia has as innocent of a childhood as she can, because once kids are out of the system, they're usually thrown onto their asses.
Kids can apply to stay in the program until they're 21, but Nini doesn't want to take up the spot of a kid that needs it more than she does. She turns 18 not long after high school graduation, and she's terrified, but she knows she'll make it work.
EJ and Kourtney have tried to convince her to apply so she has extra support, but she's as stubborn as can be when it comes to this.
Nini looks longingly at the photo. She really misses her moms.
She glances down at the one photo she has favorited in her camera roll—
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It's the last photo she and her moms took together, three days before the accident.
Nini bites the inside of her cheek to keep herself from crying.
She soon realizes that looking at the photo was a mistake, walking swiftly to the room she shares with Lia. Nini is grateful that Lia is playing somewhere else in the house, because she wouldn't want her to hear the quiet sobs she let out on her bed.
Nini misses them so much.
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i knowww it's short but i hope you like it anyway hehe -jenna
