Chapter Text
CHAPTER TWO
gina
The commotion in the dining hall was enough to give Gina a headache. The bomb the North High drama department dropped on them had her tossing and turning all night long. She thought this summer was going to be relaxing and a time to get closer with everyone and work on their skills. But now Carlos is pacing like a madman back and forth at 8:00 in the morning and she was pretty sure Natalie was on the verge of a breakdown.
How were they supposed to pull together a winning musical in front of their entire hometown in eight weeks and do everything that was already planned for them at East High Acres?
“Carlos, my love, you’re giving me anxiety. Could you please sit?” Kourtney asked, who sat next to Gina, taking a bite out of her fluffy pancakes. Gina felt her stomach growl, maybe she should grab some breakfast.
“Sit? You want me to sit, Kourtney?”
Kourtney shared a concerned look with Gina.
“How can I when we just got challenged to one of the biggest musical festivals in Utah? We have no costumes. We barely have enough people for a cast. Ugh, we don’t even have a freaking musical!” Carlos raised his voice as he threw his hands up in the air, clearly out of frustration.
Seb slid out of the booth and began to massage Carlos’ shoulders, “Remember our breathing exercises honey. Count with me, 1.. 2..”
Now that Carlos’ heart was beating at a regular pace, she took that as her cue to get breakfast, she’s going to need energy to handle today.
Gina bent to grab a plate at the crêpe station and as soon as she stood back up, EJ was towering over her.
Fantastic.
“Hey Gina.” She could tell he was anxious by the way he was fidgeting. While she, on the other hand, felt more awkward than nervous.
When the spring musical ended, Gina had asked EJ to be her first kiss. Which happens to be something she deeply regrets at this point. She blames it on the adrenaline and one too many slices of Red’s pizza. The kiss was… barely even a kiss. Actually, there wasn’t a kiss at all. They were walking towards each other, Gina was confident. But as she got closer to him, all that confidence disappeared into thin air.
Long story short, she chickened out and ran the opposite direction. She hasn’t spoken to EJ since to avoid the humiliation, despite his numerous texts and voicemails. Unfortunately for her, there’s not many places to hide while at a sleepaway camp. Gina knew this conversation was bound to happen, she was just hoping that he’d magically forget the entire thing.
“Hi, EJ. How are you?” Gina forced out.
EJ lightly chuckles, “A little confused, to be honest. You’ve been kinda ignoring me since… that night.”
Gina mentally screams, she’d rather deal with manic Carlos’ right about now. “I wouldn’t say I was ignoring you.”
“Really? Because before today, I haven’t seen or spoken to you in weeks and you literally live with my cousin.”
She couldn’t argue that. Gina places two crêpes onto her plate, along with some fruit. “Okay, okay. I know, and I’m sorry. I am. I guess I was just nervous? I don’t even know what happened but I felt too embarrassed afterwards.”
“But, you asked me to kiss you.”
“I’m very aware, trust me. I don’t really do things right the first time.”
“Gi, you could’ve told me. I would’ve understood.”
Gina puts on a small smile, “I’m sorry again.”
“It’s alright. Besides, we have the whole summer. Maybe we can have that second chance.”
Gina’s smile faltered. Did she hear that right? He still wants to kiss her? Even after she ran out on him? She felt her nerves start to work up because she didn’t know if she still had those feelings. Or if those feelings were even real in the first place.
“Uh-uhm, I think I hear Carlos calling me. I gotta go, I’ll see you!” Gina clutched her plate and quickly walked back to her table. She really needs to work on handling awkward situations. It’s been said that she’s terrible at improvising.
“You okay, babe?” Kourtney asked as Gina stared down at her plate.
“Yep, just fine.” Gina tried to sound as cheerful as she could. She didn’t see the need to discuss her interaction with EJ with her, especially since she couldn’t even make sense of it. He wants a second chance. Which means he must still like her. It was kind of sweet actually. Him still wanting her even after she didn’t kiss him and basically ghosted him. Or is it pathetic? She couldn’t decide.
Miss Jenn and Mr. Mazzara make their way into the dining hall. The two looked as if they hadn’t slept a wink last night.
“Good morning, my children. I hope you all slept well.” Miss Jenn announced. The students all looked at each other without giving her a proper response. She clears her throat and continues.
“I’m sure everyone is aware of the video North High uploaded last night. I know this isn’t what we expected this summer but we Wildcats are always up for a challenge. Which is why Benjamin and I were up all night coming up with a plan.”
Judging by his face, it seems as if Mr. Mazzara couldn’t be more uninterested in the whole ordeal. Then again, he was forced to come here so it’s not too surprising. Miss Jenn nudges his shoulder, he straightens up and takes that as his cue, “Right. I’m sure this will all be much more exciting to you all than it is to me but we have selected a musical to perform at the festival.”
The two pause to build the suspension. Everyone is at the edge of their seats, even Ricky seemed anxious to hear what they’ve chosen. Not that Gina was paying attention to him. Not at all.
“My lovelies, we are putting on Frozen !” Miss Jenn practically screamed.
The group of students burst into applause and exhilaration replaces the once somber and frightened mood they were all in before. She couldn’t believe they were putting on Frozen , she wasn’t mad about it of course. Would High School Musical 2 or Camp Rock have made more sense at a summer camp? Absolutely, but Miss Jenn is full of surprises. Besides, she doesn’t care what they perform as long as she gets to finally be the lead. That was her new goal, to prove to Miss Jenn and everyone else that she can be more than just an understudy or a feather duster.
Carlos stands up from his seat clasping his hands over his heart, “Miss Jenn, you have done it again.” He walks over to her as he links his arm through hers, “And I can’t wait to boss you all around the theater this summer.”
Even though Carlos says it as a joke, deep down they all knew he was dead serious. Miss Jenn uncomfortably shifts under his hold, “Actually, Carlos sweetie. I’m going to be directing the show by myself.”
Carlos drops his arm instantly, “What?!”
“I want you to enjoy your time here with no added pressures. Just focus on your role and have fun here at camp!”
“Great, first Ricky ruins everything for us and now I can’t even be co-director. What did I do to deserve this?” Carlos was always one of the more dramatic theater kids.
“Come on guys, I don’t think I ruined everything .” Ricky defends himself. Gina finally lets herself look in his direction, which was no easy task. She watches as he runs his hand through his messy curls, something he did frequently whenever he was nervous. That she learned when they actually used to spend time with each other, before they became a distant memory.
When no one else interjects, Ricky motions to his best friend, “Right, Big Red?”
The redhead stops chewing his cereal, “I mean maybe just a little bit, but definitely not everything.”
Ricky glares at him. Carlos speaks up, “Exactly. You could’ve just stayed with Lily but leave it to Ricky Bowen to mess things up yet again.”
Gina frowns at Carlos’ jab. She knew of Carlos’ distaste for Ricky. Albeit, she wasn’t too fond of the boy either but that doesn’t mean he deserves unnecessary rudeness.
“Yeah, why did you break up with her anyway? I thought you two were like, in love or something.” EJ questioned.
The room falls quiet as they wait for his response. Gina will admit that she was also curious about the situation. She also wonders how they even started in the first place considering Lily is one of the most unlikeable people she's ever met. But maybe he saw something in her that she didn’t. Maybe that’s what he’s into now. Regardless, she didn’t care. At least, that’s what she tried convincing herself of.
Ricky meets her gaze from across the room. It was probably no more than half a second but it happened. And that half a second was enough to send her stomach into a frenzy. She immediately becomes interested in her crêpes, removing any and all focus from him.
“Things just didn’t work out.” Was all Ricky gave as an answer. Thankfully, Miss Jenn spared him any more embarrassment.
“Now, now. We will not be placing blame on anyone . But to avoid any more drama, you all will need to give us your electronic devices.”
Everyone gasps in shock. Kourtney beside her nearly faints.
Gina didn’t mind too much but she was concerned about how she would be in contact with her mother. She can’t go two days without speaking to her, let alone two months.
“Please collect yourselves. You will be allowed a weekly phone call to your loved ones and you can always send a letter.” Mr. Mazzara reassures.
“Oh my God, he thinks we’re in the 1800s.” Kourtney mumbles to herself.
Gina giggles and gently rubs Kourtney’s back, “It’s going to be okay Kourt. Sasha will survive.”
“But will I survive? How am I going to live tweet my camp experience? How am I going to text Howie? And I cannot miss the new season of Love Island!” Kourtney is on the brink of tears and Gina can’t help but shake her head in amusement.
Mr. Mazzara saunters up to their table with a basket, gesturing for them to hand their devices over. Gina places her phone reluctantly after sending a quick text to her mother about these unfortunate circumstances. Kourtney is still gripping onto Sasha for dear life and Gina takes it upon herself to remove the phone from her hands. Kourtney lets out a small cry when her phone is taken by their teacher.
“Don’t worry Kourt. You always have me!”
“But you’re not Sasha.”
Gina tries to not take offense by being less important than an IPhone 13. Screw you Steve Jobs.
“Remember, the talent show is this Saturday! This week, that will be your main priority. After that, we shall begin with auditions for Frozen . But as for today, let’s have fun! At 2:00, we will be having a volleyball tournament to work on our team bonding.” Miss Jenn points a look towards Carlos who waves her off. “See you all then, enjoy your breakfast!”
*****
Gina opens the door to her cabin and sees an extra person outside of the usual three she expects.
“Carlos? What are you doing here?”
Seb is the one who answers, “He’s complaining about his bunkmates. I keep trying to tell him to become friends with them.”
Carlos furrows his eyebrows in disgust, “Sebby, I love you but that is absolutely not happening.”
Ashlyn appears out of the bathroom and looks through her closet of an endless amount of clothes, “Are they really that bad?”
“Yes! EJ, I tolerate even though his Axe body spray is too much to bear. I can handle Red but his snoring is going to make me smother him in his sleep. Sorry Ashlyn.”
“Trust me, I get it.” Ashlyn laughs.
“Ugh and don’t even get me started on Ricky.”
Gina plops down onto her bed, “Remind me again, why you have this personal vendetta against him?”
Carlos looks at her incredulously. Gina scans the room and everyone else has the same expression. Even Kourtney stopped praying for her phone to come back to her to raise her eyebrows. Gina rolled her eyes, “What?”
Carlos leaned forward, “Honey, are you forgetting that I had a front row seat to your heartbreak over that thing. I refuse to be friends with someone who can hurt someone I care about, that deeply.”
Gina twiddles her fingers mindlessly, “Heartbreak is a strong word.”
“Tell that to my mascara stained pillows.” Seb added.
“Yeah Gi, after he got back with she who shall not be named, you didn’t come out of your room for weeks.” Ashlyn stopped messing with her outfit to share a look of pity towards her.
“It was like you weren’t yourself at all, like a ghost Gina.” Kourtney pointed out.
Everyone nodded in agreement. Gina stands up out of frustration, “Alright, I get it. I get it. But none of that matters now, because I am 100% over him.”
Carlos lays down on Seb’s lap and folds his arms, “That’s fine but as far as I’m concerned this is a Ricky Bowen hate club.”
Gina knows her friends are coming from a place of love. She knows how much they had to witness during those long, awful months where she was working on moving on from Ricky. She couldn’t count the number of times she showed up at their doorstep with puffy eyes and ice cream.
It was quite embarrassing. How much she let something as stupid as a boy not liking her back break her so immensely. She didn’t know how much she liked him until she lost him. What hurt the most is how she laid her heart right in front of him when she confessed her feelings back in winter and by the time she moved back to Salt Lake, he was with Nini. As if Gina was just a placeholder until Nini came running back to him. He made her believe she had a fighting chance. She always believed he was going to be the one constant in her life and look where that got her.
It was her fault honestly. She can’t compare to Nini. She can’t compare to Lily. So she made a promise to herself to cut any and all ties with Ricky Bowen. She needed to move on and that couldn’t happen with him in her life. And so far, it’s been working just fine. Up until now, where she’s forced to see him everyday.
“But Carlos, I don’t want you to hate him. Or any of you guys. So please promise me, you’ll be nice. Maybe ease back on the random insults?” Gina pleaded with him. Unfortunately, she still cared about Ricky. Besides, she wouldn’t wish being on Carlos’ bad side to her worst enemy.
Kourtney and Seb nod their heads. Ashlyn shrugs, “For the record, I never really hated him. Big Red loves him and I love Big Red so we kinda had to be friends.”
Gina laughs. Carlos studies her for a moment before sighing, “Fine. Living with him is like my personal hell, but for you, I’ll do it.”
Gina claps her hands in joy, “Thank you, thank you, thank you.”
Carlos lifts up from Seb and points a finger at her, “But! If I’m being nice to Ricky that means you have to give EJ a chance.”
Confusion takes over Gina’s face, what did EJ have to do with anything? She looks over at Ashlyn who is shifting awkwardly.
“Ash, you told him?”
“Umm, no?” Ashlyn is a terrible liar.
“About the kiss that wasn’t a kiss? Yeah, she told us all about it.” Kourtney revealed.
Gina throws a pillow at Ash, “So much for keeping secrets.”
“I’m sorry! They basically forced it out of me when they saw you talking to EJ this morning.”
“No we didn’t. She brought it up all on her own.” Seb said.
Ashlyn’s eyes widen and throws the pillow that Gina threw at her, at Seb.
“Oh, no one hits my boyfriend.” Carlos gets up and throws a pillow at Ashlyn and before they knew it, they engulfed themselves into an all out pillow fight.
They tire themselves out after about five minutes and call a truce. Gina will say that’s the most fun she’s had since she arrived yesterday. She even let her irritation with Ashlyn’s big mouth slip from her mind.
She controls her laughter, “So, if I see where things go with EJ, you’ll be on your best behavior?”
Carlos holds out his pinky. “Pinky promise. We all know you like him, so this should be a piece of cake for you.”
She frowns a little bit. Did she like EJ?
Whatever, she locks pinkies with Carlos anyways.
*****
“Sunscreen everyone!”
Miss Jenn passes around multiple bottles to everyone on the sandy volleyball court. Gina slathers herself in sunscreen because she cannot bear the thought of having wrinkles when she’s older. Getting sunburnt is another factor, of course.
Gina pulls her curls up into a messy bun to get her hair off her neck. She kicks herself for not getting braids before coming to camp then she wouldn’t have to deal with this ridiculous humidity and the effects on her hair. C’est la vie.
“Before we start this exciting tournament, I must tell you that this is not going to be your regular volleyball match.” Miss Jenn explains.
The students share looks of confusion.
“You are going to be singing while playing. To honor East High Acres, you will be singing a song from High School Musical 2.”
Like Gina said, Miss Jenn is full of surprises.
Some people groan, some people cheer. Gina was just ready to play, it was way too hot to simply be standing here soaking up the sun.
“Hush, hush. It’ll warm up your voices. Now, team captains, Ben, will you do me the honors?”
Mr. Mazzara adjusts his sunglasses and brings out a megaphone, “Ricky, you’re captain for Team Red. Gina, you’re captain for Team Gold.”
Gina snaps her head up. Ricky seems just as shocked as she is.
“Um, I-” Ricky begins but Miss Jenn cuts him short.
“Captains, choose your teams!”
Gina and Ricky look at each other, he offers her a smile. That dumb, pretty smile that used to fog her brain by the mere sight of it.
“Ladies first.” Ricky said.
Gina pulls her eyes away from Ricky and looks at her potential teammates. She’s a winner, so she needs to have a winning team.
“EJ.” She picks him simply because he is tall.. and to appease Carlos.
EJ is elated and runs up next to her side. He playfully nudges her arm and she lets out a giggle. She does happen to catch an eye roll from Ricky.
“Big Red.” Of course, he would have his best friend on his team.
“Kourtney.” Gina knew Kourt to naturally have a “in it to win it” attitude.
“Ashlyn.” His choice did surprise her, mostly because she was going to pick her next.
“Rico.” She hoped Rico was as good a volleyball player as he was a dancer.
“Natalie.” It seemed like Ricky was just picking random people but Natalie is quite scary when she gets into competition mode.
“Seb.” He may seem weak on the outside but Gina has seen him first hand tame a horse and a cow at the same time, she needed that farmer's strength.
“Uh, Carlos.”
“Excuse me?” Gina stares at Carlos and he composes himself. “I mean, yay.” Carlos steps over to Team Red’s side with annoyance and an overly fake smile but Gina appreciates it nonetheless.
“Steph.” She was a nice girl. Gina didn’t know too much about her besides that she can almost outdo her on pirouettes. Almost .
“Kaden.”
Miss Jenn claps her hands together, “Perfect, the rest of the students will be cheerleaders and our backup singers. Each team go to their respective sides. Ricky, Gina, we’ll give you two minutes to discuss which song we will be singing. Starting now!”
Gina meets Ricky at the net, thankfully it’s separating them. She hasn’t been this close to him in months. She can faintly smell his citrus shampoo that brings her back to the days where he would fall asleep on her shoulder and his freshly washed curls were all she could focus on. She inwardly cringes and forgets the memory.
“So Captain Gina, do I salute you or?”
“No need for that, but you know I wouldn’t mind a bow, Captain Ricky. Perhaps a curtsy?”
Ricky chuckles, “You wish, Porter. So, any idea on what song we are choosing?”
“I’m not sure, there are so many good ones.”
“How about What Time is It ?”
Gina fake gasps, “The Richard Bowen actually knows a High School Musical song?”
“Mhm, make fun all you want. How could I not when you made me watch all three movies 24/7.”
Her heart clenches. She’s been trying to repress the times they shared way back when. Well, trying and failing. “Looks like you enjoyed them so much you memorized all the songs.”
“The movies weren’t the only thing I enjoyed.”
Gina winces. What could he mean by that? Did he mean something by that? She doesn’t know why she’s getting her hopes up, even if he did imply anything behind that sentence, it doesn’t matter.
Gina intends to reply but Miss Jenn beats her to it.
“Time’s up! Captains, have we chosen a song?”
Ricky registers what she asked quicker than Gina did, “Yep. What Time Is It .”
Their drama teacher squeals happily, “Wonderful! Very fitting for this summer day. Everyone get in positions.”
“Get ready to lose, Porter.”
“In your dreams, Bowen.”
Ricky leaves her at the net to converse with his team and Gina figures she should do the same.
“So, everyone ready?” Gina asks her team. Everyone nods excitedly.
“As a former water polo player, I’m sure I’ll be the best.” EJ remarks.
“Oh, how I’ve missed your ego.” Gina sarcastically jokes.
They all move into their designated spots, with EJ serving first. Mr. Mazzara blows his whistle and EJ throws the ball up in the air.
What time is it!
He serves it swiftly over the net. Big Red hits it next.
Summertime
It’s our vacation
Carlos successfully bumps it over to the opposing side.
What time is it?
Gina manages to hit the ball before it touches the ground, all while singing the next lyric.
Party time
That’s right, say it loud
Kourtney bumps the ball over to Seb.
What time is it?
Seb jumps high and spikes it over the net, which the other team was not prepared for.
Time of our lives
Anticipation
Ricky dives for the volleyball but is much too late as it hits the sand. He groans the next line of the song as he recovers from his fall.
What time is it?
Team Gold cheers as they’ve gained their first point of the match. They all harmonize the next part of the chorus.
Summertime
School’s out, scream and shout
And they certainly did shout.
“One point for Team Gold.” Mr. Mazzara yells through his megaphone.
Gina laughs as she meets with Ricky in the middle of the court.
“Alright, alright. You just got lucky.”
“I’m sorry, shouldn’t you be singing right now? Or are you too busy losing?”
His lips form into a smirk. He’s about to say something else but EJ rudely interrupts them.
EJ slings his arm around Gina’s shoulders, “Gi! No fraternizing with the enemy, we have a game to win.”
Gina looks down at his arm, she didn’t not like it. Once she looks back up, Ricky is already back in his position.
For the next hour, the two teams volley back and forth. There was lots of singing and cheering and trash talk being thrown around. She even noticed Carlos and Ricky high five each other, now she’s really seen it all.
They have already played two sets and are at the match point for the last set. Team Gold won set one and Team Red won set two. One thing about Gina, is that she’s competitive. She may or may not be channeling her Gina 1.0 for this last point.
She readies herself to serve the ball and finish off All For One . She powerfully serves the ball across the net.
Everybody all for one
Our real summer has just begun
Ashlyn hits the ball first as it reaches their side.
Let’s rock and roll and just let go
Feel the rhythm of the drums
Natalie bumps the ball over to Kaden.
We’re gonna have fun in the sun
Now that all the hard work, work is done
Kaden spikes it to the opposing side.
Come on everyone let’s dance
Steph aggressively slides into the sand to hit it.
We can’t let the moment pass
Rico bumps the ball.
Let’s make the party last
EJ volleys it back over the net.
All for one
Big Red passes it over to Ricky.
All
Ricky hits it back towards Gina.
For
Gina takes this as her moment to shine and runs up and spikes the ball instantly over the other side deep into the sand.
One!
“And Team Gold has won the East High Acres volleyball tournament!” Mr. Mazzara shouts.
Gina and her teammates celebrate their victory. EJ even goes out of his way to wrap his arms around her and lift her off the ground in a spin hug. She’s too happy to properly process the action so she sinks into the hug.
They were winners, after all.
*****
The sun is setting over East High Acres as Gina walks across the fields towards the dance studio. She and her champion teammates gushed over their winning plays over ice cream and milkshakes in the dining hall. She loves her friends but her social meter was definitely running low after spending the last five hours with them.
Gina can’t complain too much, she cherishes the fact that she fits in so comfortably with everyone here. She’s never had friends like this though, considering she was always moving away before she got the chance to get close to anyone. But these people here, they were family. Even if they are a bunch of dorky theater kids.
The talent show then enters Gina’s thoughts, she was heading to the studio to come up with new choreography to perform. She has no idea who these anonymous judges are but she’s sure she’ll want to impress them. Plus, a bit of ballet will help her decompress after such a long and eventful day.
A few strums of a guitar stops her in her tracks. She looks around to see who was the culprit of the beautiful melody she had just heard.
She quietly moves towards the sound of the guitar but immediately halts when she recognizes who was playing it.
Ricky.
He’s sitting on a low tree branch and facing the lake. Gina feels like she should leave, he clearly isn’t expecting an audience. And she gets ready to keep on walking until he starts to sing. She wishes she could carry on with her day but she doesn’t see anything wrong with staying a few more moments, just to listen.
He continues to sing lowly and nod his head to his instrument. Gina inches forward to hear better and immediately wishes she hadn’t when a branch snaps from under her. Ricky whips his head around and Gina ducks behind the closest bush she could find.
“Gina, you know I saw you right?” Ricky teases.
This is it.
This is the most embarrassing moment of her life.
“Gina?”
She quickly evaluated her options. She could pretend like she can’t hear him and crawl in the opposite direction. God, that'd be even more mortifying. So, she gets over herself and slowly stands up.
Gina sheepishly waves, “Hi.”
“Spying on me now?” Ricky is smiling from ear to ear, no doubt enjoying this.
Gina adjusts her bag on her shoulder and scoffs, “No, I was just admiring this lovely bush here.”
He raises his eyebrow.
“Fine. You caught me.”
Ricky laughs and pats the open spot next to him on the branch, “Do you wanna sit? Or do you wanna jump behind a bush again?”
She should say no.
She could easily tell him that she’s busy and wants to work on her dance routine. It would save her the trouble of having to make genuine conversation that lasts longer than two minutes, which she has been expertly avoiding since the end of the musical.
Back in Salt Lake, it was easy for her to ignore him. They didn’t have classes together and she redirected her hallway routes so there wasn’t even a small chance she would see him. He stuck to Big Red’s side during rehearsals and she’d be too focused on the material to pay him any attention.
She only cut him off entirely to make sure her crush had dissipated. And now that she thinks about it, she was 100% sure it had. What’s the harm in being friends? They’re at camp and it’s supposed to be fun. She’d rather rekindle their friendship than continue down this painfully awkward journey they’ve been on for months.
So, that is how she finds herself accepting his offer and sitting down next to him.
“Don’t tell me you’re singing about losing the tournament today, Captain Ricky.”
“Yeah, totally. I was just about to sing about how Team Red should have won.”
Gina lets out a laugh, “Oh, sore loser are we?”
“Maybe. For the record, I went easy on you.”
“Whatever helps you sleep at night.”
Ricky shakes his head, “Um, actually I was working on something for the talent show.”
Gina’s eyes light up, “May I hear it? Without being behind shrubbery this time.”
“I would, but it’s nowhere near done.”
“I’m sure it’s going to be amazing.”
Ricky runs his hand through his hair, “I don’t know.”
Gina lightly pushes his arm, “I’m serious. Whatever you come up with, I already know the judges are going to be blown away.”
“Flattery happens to work extremely well on me, Porter.”
Gina rolls her eyes, “Shut up. You still are a terrible volleyball player.”
“Ouch. Low blow there, Gi.” Ricky flinches and corrects himself, “Sorry, I-I mean Gina.”
He used to call her Gi all the time. It was his nickname for her that everyone else caught onto. She thought it would hurt more hearing him say it but instead she really, really missed it.
“It’s okay. You can call me Gi.”
Ricky relaxes his shoulders, as if she just relieved some excruciating weight off his chest. He meets her gaze and his face softens. The golden rays highlight his curls and place a sparkle in his warm brown eyes. Being this close, she can spot tiny freckles on the bridge of his nose that she never really noticed before.
Ricky is the one who breaks first, “So, Gi , what are you doing for the talent show?”
His focus returns back to his guitar and Gina stares at the flowing water.
“I’m coming up with a ballet routine. I was on my way to the studio actually.”
“You mean before I caught you sneaking up on me?”
Gina groans, “Please don’t ever speak of that to anyone.”
Ricky snickers, “I won’t. Besides who would I even tell? I have literally one friend and I’m positive Big Red would find some way to make fun of me rather than you.”
During the remainder of the school year, Gina has picked up on how much on the outskirts he’s been with the rest of the group. He’s been more to himself and doesn’t say his stupid jokes anymore. She wonders why he pushed back. She would hate for him to be back on outside, especially after all the work he's put in. Being an outsider is a terrible feeling, a feeling she knows all too well.
“Two friends. You have me. Outsiders gotta stick together, right?”
Carlos would have surely bitten her head off if he was here right now.
Ricky smiles and nods his head.
Suddenly, he removes himself from the branch and packs up his guitar.
“Come on.”
Gina furrows her eyebrows and looks up at him, “Come on where?”
Ricky points to the building next to them, “To the dance studio. We gotta get you ready for Saturday.”
She slowly stands up, “I guess I will need some company.”
“Exactly, and who’s better company than me?”
Gina and Ricky walk side by side as they make their way over.
“Eh, Kourtney. Ashlyn. Seb. My dog. Car-”
“Ha ha okay, you’ve made your point.”
Remember, when she said she was 100% over him?
Make that 99%.
Alright, 98%.
97%.