ricky walked into his chem class as usual, but today he saw nina sitting at her desk next to ricky, on her phone, headphones in her ears. it was weird to him- for the past two months, he couldn't help but notice she was always coming in after him.

he never intentionally watched her walk in everyday, 2 minutes before class started, but it was something he took note of.

he walked over to his desk and set his backpack down on the ground, while pulling his chair out to sit on it.

"heyy nini," he awkwardly said as he sat down on the chair.

she continued to look at her phone and bob her head as the music played through her headphones.

is she ignoring me?

"um, nina?" he gulped.

she turned her head and took her headphones off. "hey ricky!" she smiled, "oh sorry, i heard you the first time but i forgot i was nini," she laughed.

"oh. it's okay," he smiled.

"hey, before i forget- sorry about yesterday. my boyfriend is just really protective and this is the first year i'm in public school. usually our parents hire a private teacher and we homeschool," she explained.

"damn, you must be rich to hire a private teacher."

"i guess you could say that."

"wait, don't your moms own like a music company or something? um... salrob music!"

nina's eyes widened, "uh, how did you know that?"

"my friends told me. and i've seen your social media's, i don't think a normal person would have hundreds of thousands of followers."

nina scrunched her face, "i knew i should've made another account."

"still wouldn't have gotten past me, i knew you were the daughter of carol and dana. not gonna lie, music is the only thing keeping me going and i actually invest a lot of time in your company. good shit."

"hmm, well at least i know you're not just friends with me for the fame," she laughed. "do you write music too or do you just... listen?"

"you could say that."

"really? well maybe we could exchange originals sometime?"

"not sure if you're going to like what i've written but why not."

the two smiled at each other and their conversation ended at the right time as mr mazzara welcomed the class and told them that they had to get started on their projects again.

today was different, ricky and nina were actually talking, they looked like they enjoyed working together on this project. they would discuss their research and would make jokes here and there.

red and kourtney couldn't help but notice their friends' change in atmosphere. the two who were always avoiding each other were now in the back of the classroom making everyone turn to face them with their loud laughs.

+

nina groaned as the call coming from ej flashed on her phone screen.she took a deep breath before she asnwered her phone.

"hello?" she said bluntly.

"are you okay neens?" he asked.

"i already told you i'm fine ej," she replied, slightly angered.

now ej knew something was wrong. nina would always call him elijah- it was his name but she would always say it in a joking way. this was one of those times he expected her to say it, but she didn't.

"i'm here if you wanna talk."

"i don't."

"okay but-"

"do you trust me?" nina interrupted him.

"what?"

"answer the question ej. do you trust me?"

"yes. of course i do. why would you even ask that?"

"don't lie to me. i don't want to be lied to right now. we've practically been dating our whole lives yet you still don't trust me, do you?"

"nina, where is this coming from? you know i would trust you with my life."

"but you wouldn't trust me alone with a boy, would you?"

"what are you talking about?"

"ej, you're my best friend. it's always been the two of us against the world. we've always been inseparable. but maybe it's just been too much." she paused, "i like it here in salt lake, i like being by myself. it's nice having all this space without someone being right there to guard me, especially with guys."

"guys? nina, what do you mean?"

"god ej, you don't trust me when there are other guys around! every time my moms make me help someone at work who is a guy, you're just always there, and yesterday when i was just trying to do my project with ricky, you had to ask if he liked me."

"i just said that cause i can't protect you if he makes a move."

"i don't need protecting ej! i can take care of myself. stop fucking watching over me like you're my babysitter. i just wish i had some privacy!"

silence.

"look, i need to go. um, i just need a break, please just... don't text me."

"okay," he managed to get out, "bye nina, i love-"

nina hung up the phone without saying goodbye. she threw her phone onto her bed and she sat on the floor with her head in her hands, quiet sobs escaping from her eyes.

+