nini wakes up on a wednesday morning without an alarm. she's used to waking up without it, but she never understands why. somehow she wanted to be a non-punctual person so she can wake up late.

her eyes trails up until it lands on her boyfriend. she lets out a smile as she scoots closer to him while trying not to wake him. sometimes people would think it's creepy to stare at someone who's sleeping, but ricky's and nini's case is different. they are used to it, and in fact, they loved it. seeing each other the first thing when they wake up is something they love.

nini leans closer to his face and press her forehead and nose against his as she closes her eyes. she loved being this close with him because she feels the safety around him. he makes her feel safe and comfortable. she loved him way too much that she let herself becoming this whipped person over the person she loves.

minutes passed by and suddenly she could feel ricky's arm gripped her waist tightly as he pulls her closer to him. she lets out a small giggle, realizing now that she couldn't move because he holds her tightly. she loved it. she didn't want anything else but to be like this with him every second of her life.

she hasn't check the time yet, but the rising sun makes her realize they should wake up and get ready. she leans in to connect her lips with his but sadly he doesn't kiss back, which means he's still asleep. so she lets out her energy from her left hand and brings it to his hair while stroking it softly.

"baby, wake up." she whispers

ricky responds with nothing but him scrunching up his nose. she realizes it's quite rare to see him a bit hard to wake up. she didn't recall having a tiring night previously, because the last thing they did before falling asleep was another pillow talk and a kiss.

did something happened at school?

she shakes her negative thoughts as she moves her hands to his cheeks while caressing it softly.

"baby, we should get ready for school."

no answer

she tries to kiss him again, but this time he kisses her too and tightens her grip more which earns a gasp from her mouth.

"ricky!" she whines

"5 minutes." he groggily says with his morning voice

"the sun rises already." she says softly, "i don't wanna be late for school."

"god, you and your obsession with school." he groans

she lets out a giggle, "please, wake up."

he sighs as he opens his eyes with a smile, "you're lucky i love you."

"i'm so damn lucky." she beams

she thought about him struggling to wake up earlier, "hey, what happened at school yesterday?"

ricky raises his eyebrows, "nothing, why?"

"you were pretty hard to wake up earlier, i thought you had something in mind or anything's bothering you." she tells him

"oh, it's nothing." he waves her off, "i called my mom when i was on the way here after school, and she told me she's currently struggling with the business and, i don't know..."

"you're overthinking it?" she guesses and he nods

"i'm sorry." she says as she press a kiss on his shoulder

"it's okay." he tells her with a smile, "you didn't do anything."

"please tell me again if something's bothering you. we've been over this for forever." she says with a frown

"i will, don't worry. it's just you've been having a rough time and i don't want to impose."

"hey, no-"

"i know what you're going to say." he chuckles

"just promise you won't keep anything that's bothering you."

he lets out a light laugh, "alright, who wants to shower first?"

"why don't you use the guest bathroom and i'll use mine so we can get ready earlier?" she suggests

"okay, let me call bertha to help you, yeah?"

she nods as he gives her a kiss on her lips and walks out from nini's bedroom to call bertha. she sits up slowly as she runs fingers to her hair as she lets out a huge sigh. she realizes she will attend school again after weeks absent from there. to say she's nervous would be an understatement. the last time she went there, bad memories flew around. she's scared if people are still talking about her because she never ask ricky how school is doing when she was in a coma.

"miss nina, are you ready?" bertha's voice fills the room

she looks up and sees bertha next to her while ricky takes out his uniform, "yeah, i'm ready."

the two couple gets ready individually for almost an hour, knowing it's quite hard for nini to get ready quickly, even though bertha is there to help her.

she's finally ready moments later when bertha stops combing her hair. bertha bends down while seeing nini's reflection on the mirror with a smile.

"beautiful as always." she says with a huge smile

"thank you." nini says shyly

"i'm calling mr. bowen to let him know you're ready. and your breakfast is ready too."

"okay, thank you again."

nini looks back to the mirror and feels slightly awkward seeing herself in her uniform after weeks not wearing it. she zones out for awhile, she didn't realize her boyfriend has been standing behind her while resting his chin on her head.

"what's on your mind?" he asks as he wraps his arms around her

"i feel weird wearing this after awhile." she tells him

"it's normal." he says with a chuckle, "to make you feel better, i miss seeing you wearing this."

she giggles lightly, "should i wear uniform every second now?"

"god no, it's not comfortable." he groans and she laughs lightly

ricky lets her away as he slings his backpack on his shoulders while resting nini's stuffs on her lap. he strolls the wheelchair out of the bedroom and stops it at the end of the stairs. he rests nini's bag on the floor and pick her up bridal style downstairs to the couch. when nini's in a safe spot, ricky walks upstairs again to carry nini's bag and the wheelchair downstairs.

"i really want my right hand to work again." she mumbles, "i hate seeing you like this. carrying me all the time."

"hey, i told you i'll stick by your side." he says with a chuckle

"i know, but not like this! i burden you, don't i?"

he chuckles as he press a kiss on her forehead, "you're far from burden."

he carries her to the wheelchair and start strolling it to the dining room. when they arrive, they see garrett and alexis are still in their pajamas, which is now a normal view for nini.

"excited?" garrett asks

"on second thought, no." she mutters

"what's wrong?" ricky asks as he moves his attention from his breakfast to her

"nervous, that's all. i just hate the attention." she answers

"ignore them." alexis tells her, "you have ricky and your friends. you don't need to worry what people think of you."

"i'll try." she says with a smile

as expected, people at school turn their attention to her. she gulps nervously as ricky strolls her wheelchair and she looks down her lap. ricky realizes nini's fidgeting nervously on the wheelchair so he leans in to her ear while whispering, "remember what your mom told you, ignore them."

nini finally looks up to him with a smile, "thank you."

"ricky! nini!"

someone call them and ricky turns around to see zoe running to them so ricky stops his tracks.

"hey you." ricky greets her

she gives him a wave and glances at nini, "i haven't see you since saturday, how are you?"

"i feel a lot better." nini answers with a smile

"that's good!" she exclaims, "are you going to your locker?"

nini nods in response, "alright, i'll walk with you guys and," she stops as she bents down to nini's ear, "ignore the stares."

nini looks up to her with a smile, "i will."

ricky lets out a huge smile seeing the interaction between his girlfriend and bestfriend. he didn't even think zoe would be this nice to nini. he taps her shoulder and mouthed a "thank you" to her as zoe just gives him a nod and a smile.

as they arrive at nini's locker, ricky helps her to take out the things she tells him. zoe's eyes wander around the hallways and see people are still staring at them so she gives him a death glare and shoo them away.

"remind me again who from our group have the same classes as you aside from greg?" ricky asks as he closes her locker

"i have most periods with kenny, howie, carlos, and kourtney until lunch then ashlyn and ej after lunch until school's over."

"alright, that's good." he says as he glances at zoe, "do you know when will greg arrives?"

"in a few minutes." zoe answers, "i have second and third period with you!"

nini lets out a smile, "oh yeah, i almost forgot."

"ah great! don't get lost from any of our friends, okay?" ricky tells her

"okay."

"hey guys!" greg pops in behind zoe as they share a sweet kiss

"remember what i told you-"

"take care of nini, protect her at all costs. i know." greg lets out a loud groan which makes the girls laugh

"don't worry, i'll be okay." nini says as she strokes his knuckles with her thumb

"alright, but i'm walking you to class now."

"geez, never thought i would see this side of you." garrett snorts and ricky playfully slaps his chest

"shut it."

time passes by and it was finally lunch. ricky was a bit late for 10 minutes because he has to help the teacher with something. as he lazily walks to the cafeteria, someone stops him and holds his wrist.

"ricky, baby! are you heading to lunch?"

ricky groans mentally as he turns around with a death glare.

"i'm not your baby, jenny. and yes, i'm heading to lunch. oh, and no, you're not allowed to sit on my table."

"but-"

"get lost bitch." he spats

"ricky!"

he ignores her as he quickly walks to the cafeteria. he knows jenny is still following him, but he ignored it.

he quickly buys the lunch and scans for his table. he sees his friends gathering together while sharing laughter, definitely a view he never expected to see. then he could see gina feeds his girlfriend her lunch but she didn't seem to enjoy it, so he quickly walks to their table.

"hey guys."

"hey! what took you so long?" gina asks as she moves away from nini and let him takes her seat

"had to help the teacher with something." ricky answers as he glances at his girlfriend's lunch, "what's wrong?"

"my stomach." nini mumbles

"alright, don't push it. you brought the medicine, right?"

she nods and points at her bag. ricky takes the medicine out from the left side of her bag and gives it to her. he gives her stomach few minutes to rest and after that he starts to feed her again. thankfully, this time she eats normally. but their friends thought that nini only eats like that just because ricky's feeding her.

ricky was about to defend himself and nini, but that annoying voice comes again from behind him.

"what, jenny?" ricky asks as he turns around and sends her a death glare

"i should be sitting here!" she pouts

"nope, you should be sitting next to the trash can." mason tells her and they all laugh loudly, while nini just sit there and chuckle

"you." jenny spats as she tries to turn nini's body around harshly. nini yelps out in pain and tears starts coming out from her eyes, and this makes everyone clench their fists.

"that's enough jenny." ricky says as he stands up from his seat

"we never liked you. you were only a part of our group because we pity you. and you're just a fucking whore and a psycho bitch who's too busy thinking about herself." ricky spats with a death glare

"i should be the one sitting here with you, not her! and to be fair, she's a whore too, you know? dating ethan publicly while secretly dating you? that's so-"

a loud slap is given to jenny's cheeks from lily which makes everyone gasp.

"lily-"

"you heard ricky. go. before we make a huge scene." lily spats

she clenches her fists as she glances at nini, "you're so gonna get a payback."

jenny runs outside from the cafeteria as people yells at her for being a cruel person. ricky returns back to his seat as he wipes her tears away.

"which one's hurt?" he asks worriedly

nini points on her left rib as she yelps in pain and ricky couldn't handle seeing her like that.

"let's go to the nurse."

"ricky, please no." she begs him, "i promise i'm okay."

he sees the worry in her eyes so he glances around his friends and they all nod so he gives in, "alright, but please tell me if it gets bad."

"i will, don't worry." she assures him with a smile, "now come on, i haven't lose my appetite."

he knows she tries to cheer him up, so he gives her a smile and continue to feed her again.

"jenny really is a psycho." kourtney mumbles

"i know, right? i've had enough of her." lily groans as she runs her hands through her hair

"is that why you slap her?" seb asks with a chuckle

she nods in response, "i've been wanting to do that. it was amazing."

they all laugh and lily glances at nini, "no offense nini, but i'm grateful she did that to you."

nini giggles lightly, "none taken, thank you for defending me."

lily nods with a smile, "tell me if she did anything bad to you again, i'd be glad to slap her."

"count me in." greg says as he eats his lunch

"she's a girl." big red tells him

"she's not a girl, she's jenny." greg says jokingly and they burst out into s fit laughter

ricky scans around the table and see how close his friends and nini's are each day. then he turns to face his girlfriend who is laughing softly and he knows she tries to hold back the pain.

he brings his hand to her cheeks and turn her head so she can face him, "how's your ribs?"

"don't worry." she says as she holds his hand who's caressing her cheeks

"i should let your parents know."

"no, please don't." she begs him

"nini-"

"please, i don't want them to worry about this. i'm okay, i promise." she says with a pleading look

he sighs, "alright, but please tell someone if you feel hurt."

"i will, don't worry." she gives her a genuine smile, "thank-"

he shuts her off by connecting their lips together for a short kiss which earns both squeals and groans from their friends.

"you guys are so cute!"

"dear god, i can't handle this."

"i really need a boyfriend."

"i'm gonna be sick."

they pull away and laugh a little as they glance at their friends shyly, "bare with us, we finally get to do this in public."

"i'm so rooting you two for prom king and queen." zoe says with a sigh

"no, thanks zoe. i'm okay behind the spotlight." nini says with a chuckle

"sure, neens. you sure don't like wearing crowns." gina says teasingly

"oh, gi! remember your 6th birthday party nini fought with some girl because she thought the girl wore her crown when she obviously used one on her head?" ej asks and they burst out laughing

"ej!" nini whines

"oh i do remember that, it was epic." ricky says with a laugh

"not you too." she sends him a glare

"sorry, i can't help it." he laughs again while she shakes her head

to be completely honest, the pain in her ribs starts to get worse. she doesn't want people knowing because she doesn't want people to think she's weak. everyone has been so nice and caring to her, she feels that she burdens them, and she knows if she tells them that they will get mad, so staying silent is her best choice.

ricky realizes the mood changes in nini after jenny confronts her. he knows she's scared and he hates it. he loved her so much, but sometimes he hates it when she acts too strong when deep down she's not. now he feels slightly scared something might happened with nini, but he makes sure that she will always be safe, just like what he promised to her parents.

sadly, he cannot maintain his promise.

it was just another normal friday and everyone is currently having their lunch. ricky's table is filled with concern because nini hasn't show up yet. she doesn't have any close friends on her last period before lunch, so she had to come to the cafeteria alone. it has been about twenty minutes and everyone is nervously waiting for her.

"where the hell is she?!" ricky asks worriedly

"maybe her teacher needs something? she'll be fine, ricky." gina tells him

ricky was about to say something but someone comes in to their table. they look up and see amelia, another senior like them, letting out a huge sigh as if she just ran.

"hey guys, sorry to interrupt your lunch. can i talk to ricky?" she asks quickly

"what's up?"

"you have to come with me."

"is something wrong?"

"it's nini." she says with a concerning look

the whole group gasps as ricky quickly packs his belongings and follows amelia outside the cafeteria. his friends had a dilemma whether they should follow ricky or not, but in the end, gina and ej followed him.

he didn't know where the hell is he going, but when amelia stops her tracks in front of the girls' bathroom, confusion fills his mind.

"you want me to go in?"

amelia nods, "no one's inside but my friends. come on."

as ricky walks inside, he swears his heart drops seeing the view and he could fall down at any second.

there she is

unconsciously lying on the floor

with scars on her face and bruises on her legs