the flaw in being perfect - rini au

fifty six

Nini is getting nervous.

The clock feels slower than ever as she watches time go by before lunch.

She doesn't have a real plan, per say, but she has one person she wants to confront first.

Gina Porter.

Nini taps her fingers on her desk, anxiously chewing the inside of her cheek.

Exactly sixty seconds until the bell.

Sixty seconds until Nini confronts the girl that most of the school is scared of.

Thirty seconds now.

Then fifteen, ten, five, four, three, two, one.

RING

Here goes nothing.

Nini takes a breath, packing up her stuff and heading to the cafeteria.

I've got this, Nini thinks to herself. I hope.

Nini looks around for Gina, taking a second before spotting her walking to the cheerleaders' table.

"Hey, Gina, can we talk?" Nini asks.

Gina raises her eyebrows. "Right now?"

"When else would I be talking about?" Nini crosses her arms.

Nini surprises herself with her boldness, and Gina seems a bit taken aback as well.

"Alright, then talk," Gina probes her amusedly.

"You spread a rumor about me yesterday," Nini starts.

"Oh, that's a rumor? I really thought that's what happened." Gina feigns innocence, though anyone watching can see the mischievous glimmer in her eye.

"Cut the crap, Gina. You know that's not what happened."

"No, actually, I don't know, Nina, because you didn't tell anybody," Gina accuses.

"I didn't tell anybody because it's no one else's business. Where do you get off telling people I do drugs? And dragging Ashlyn into it, too? Seriously?"

Nini is aware of the attention they're drawing, but right now, she doesn't really care.

"I didn't drag Ashlyn into anything. Everyone already thinks she's a druggie. I mean, have you seen her? She's a freak! You're lucky you stopped talking to her when you did."

"I didn't stop talking to her, Gina! She stopped talking to me after she saved my fucking life. I did almost die, but it wasn't from overdosing on drugs. Get that into your tiny fucking pigeon brain."

Nini looks around to those watching them, seeing EJ in the group.

"EJ, I know you've been going around telling people more happened than what did. Don't think for a second I won't be honest when it comes into conversation."

"Ni, the rumors weren't all my idea—" EJ starts to explain.

"You were in on this?" Nini asks, disgusted.

EJ realizes what he's said. "No, I—"

"Stay the fuck away from me. I am done with you." Nini says before turning back to Gina. "And you, I'm done pretending to be friends with you and obeying you, Gina. You're a bitch and it's time everyone knows it." Nini starts to walk away.

"Where are you going?" Gina asks, unimpressed.

Nini ignores her, walking to the middle of the cafeteria and standing on a table.

"Hey!"

The lunchroom quickly quiets down.

"It's been brought to my attention that everyone seems to think they know why I missed some school last year. It's true that I almost died, but it's not true that I overdosed on drugs, or that Ashlyn has ever done drugs. I was sick. I still am sick. It's none of your damn business what that sickness is, but I thought I'd be so kind as to let you know you shouldn't be sticking your nose in my business. On another note, the only thing that happened between EJ Caswell and I was him leaving bruises on my arm after I asked him not to touch me, then proceeding to grab my ass and try to kiss me. Thank you and have a great day!" Nini presented her speech passive-aggressively, making sure to get her point across clearly before getting off the table and storming out of the lunch room.

Ricky was in the lunch room as this all went down, and all he could do was stand there with a slack jaw.

What the hell just happened? Ricky thinks to himself.

Once Ricky can compose himself, he exits the lunchroom the same way Nini did, looking for her.

After a while, he decides to check the parking lot. Sure enough, there she is, leaning against Ricky's car.

"Hey," Ricky says softly.

Nini looks to him helplessly.

Ricky approaches her and goes in for a hug which she immediately accepts and starts to sob.

"I'm sorry," Nini manages to get out.

"Neens, it's okay. Really, it is."

"What the fuck just happened?" She asks incredulously, still crying.

"I don't know, but you were such a badass."

Nini chokes out a slight laugh. "Thanks."

"When you said you had a plan, that is not what I was expecting."

"Me neither." Nini wipes under her eye as the tears keep involuntarily falling. "Originally I was just going to talk with Gina and try to clear things up, but you can see how that escalated."

"Yeah, that got just a tiny bit out of hand," Ricky admits. "You stood up for yourself, though, and I'm proud of you for that."

Nini smiles softly, eyes full of tears. "Thank you."

"Wanna get out of here?" Ricky asks, motioning to his car.

"More than anything." Nini sighs.

Ricky unlocks his car, hopping inside and waiting for Nini to do the same.

Once they're both inside and buckled, he drives them far, far away from the hell-hole people call high school.

~<>~<>~<>~<>~<>~<>~

she did it!! she told them off!!

-jenna