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nini slammed her tray on the cafeteria table, making ej, kourtney and seb jump in fright
"okay-"
they watch as she attacks her pasta with her fork, stabbing the food before putting it in her mouth as she ate
"are you alright?" seb asks, a little frightened
nini looks at them and scoffs "i'm fine. why would you guys think otherwise?" she asks bitterly
kourtney raises her eyebrows "because your torturing your food and stuffing it in your face." she points out
ej opens his mouth "are you on your p-"
he gets cut off by kourtney hitting him at the back of the head
"wha-ow!" he exclaims "what was that for?!"
"you don't ask a girl that idiot!" she glares at him before turning to the brunette girl "but are you?"
"oh my gosh," nini groans, burying her face in her hands "i'm fi-"
"don't finish that sentence because we know you better than anyone," seb says simply "what happened?"
nini takes a deep breath "fine. i'm stuck with ricky bowen as my partner for a stupid english project."
a series of understanding nods and sounds come from the three around the table
"did you ask to change partners?" seb asks
nini nods vigorously "but apparently unless he did something worth of suspension or hurt me in a way then i'm stuck with him-"
she stops and thinks about doing it for a few seconds but ej puts his finger up
"no nini." he says firmly
"what?" she asks innocently
"no, you're not going to fake a story about him just because you can't work with a guy-"
"it's not just that! he literally thinks he can make a bunch of assumptions about me and treat me like i'm nothing to him-"
"so you want to mean something to him?!" kourtney questions excitedly
nini widens her eyes "wh-no! that's not what i meant-"
"mhm," seb smirks along with the other two
"you guys took that whole entire rant out of context-"
"it's fine if you have a crush on-"
"i don't!" nini exclaims loudly, earning a few stares from around her before she sighs and looks down at her table
the others notice that this might be something more than just being paired up with ricky for a school project, but they also know that nini never talks about her feelings or personal matters unless she was absolutely ready.
which is why they don't press the topic any further
***
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ricky sat down at the lunch table in frustration, not noticing his friends looking at him in confusion
"what's up ricky?" ashlyn asks cautiously
he looks up at them, the same firm expression on his face
"nothing." he grumbles
"it doesn't seem like nothing," gina points out as she glances up from her phone
"did a girl jump you again?" carlos asks evidently
ricky rolls his eyes as light chuckles escape his friends before he shakes his head
"i got paired up with that nini girl in english for this project." he confesses
"nini?" big red asks quietly, trying to figure out who it was
"who is she?" carlos asks puzzled
ricky sighs, looking around the cafeteria before seeing the brunette girl a few tables away, talking to her friends about something
he subtly nods towards her "her,"
they all turn to look before they open their mouths in realization and carlos and gina roll their eyes
"diner girl?" gina asks in slight disgust
ashlyn opens her mouth "well, she's not the worst-"
"oh trust me i would much rather be paired up with daisy, rebecca - anyone from the cheer squad no matter how annoying they are - rather than her." he says in determination
"she seems nice?" big red tries to argue
"she made all sorts of assumptions about me when she doesn't even know me-"
"then maybe you guys should talk. like civil people do?" ashlyn suggests
ricky rolls his eyes "i'll just try and work through this project so that it can be over quickly, and then we can go out separate ways."
