Chapter Text
Gina first met Nini when they were four. Or should she say Nini ran into her.
Gina, always the poised lady even at four, reached out to grab Nini’s hand and received a fistful of sand in return. Nini cackled and screamed that she was the sand witch. Gina was just mad that an annoying girl ruined her dress.
She ran from Nini as if she were cursed, but this only seemed to persuade Nini that Gina was into her stupid game.
They looped around the castle grounds what seemed to be a billion times to little Gina.
After a while, Amber, a duke’s daughter who made her life miserable, joined Nini’s side and Gina felt fighting back was useless. As the group encroached, Gina got a serious case of goosebumps. Amber reached out a foot and gave Gina a good kick.
“YOU DUMMY,” Nini screamed, “we were only supposed to play fight!” She shooed Amber away aggressively and pulled Gina off the tiled floor where she had fallen.
Gina followed silently as Nini wobbly put bandages on her busted hands.
“I don’t like bullies,” Nini announced. And by the next hour, they were onto their witch's craze.
—
By eight, they were the best of friends. Gina had been invited by Nini to her mom’s palace.
She walked in and was bombarded by a hug by Nini.
“I’m so excited you could make it,” Nini said as Gina ended the almost two-minute-long hug. She noticed the big gap caused by Nini losing her front teeth. (Gina was quite jealous since she had yet to lose hers.)
As she dragged Gina further into her house, she rattled off their activities: nail painting, a pillow fight, karaoke, and a movie showing.
Blowing on her freshly painted nails, Gina sat down on the sofa and started digging into the huge popcorn bucket in front of her.
About twenty minutes into the movie, Nini fell asleep on Gina’s shoulder. Gina looked at Nini, really looked, and blushed. She pushed away the blush and convinced herself it was because of the cute boy in the scene.
—
At thirteen, both Gina and Nini got fancy envelopes inviting them to Princess Lillian’s birthday party.
The girls freaked and went crazy for a week trying to find the best outfits, hairstyles, and makeup.
When the day finally came, the girls walked arm in arm up to the shiny white castle. Gina reached out and touched her nail-painted hand to the doorbell. One of Lillian’s servants opened the door and let them in.
They sipped on their tea as everyone at the party discussed their crushes of the week.
“Zac Efron,” one of the girls spat out.
“He’s so dreamy,” Alice responded.
Noticing the silence, Lillian prompted, “How about you Nina? Who do you have a crush on?”
Gina knew that Nini hated her full name and Lillian was just using it to rile her up.
“Umm… I guess Zendaya. She’s cute.”
“Oh, silly girls are supposed to have crushes on boys,” Lillian spat.
Nini’s face went beet red and Gina wondered: Were girls only allowed to like boys? Nini ran to the bathroom with tears in her eyes. Gina tried to keep up the conversation; she didn’t want Lillian to think she was friends with the weird girl.
Gina slid into her sleeping bag next to Nini’s. Gina went to open her mouth to comfort Nini, but she was cut off by Nini.
“Are you crazy? The gall of you to not defend me in front of everyone, and now act like you even care about me. I never want to talk to you again,” Nini whispered.
The girls fell asleep back-to-back, as always, but they couldn’t be further apart.
—
As Gina sat down for an uncomfortable breakfast with her family, her mother said, “Do you remember your old friend, Nina?”
“No I forgot her, she was only my friend for thirteen years. Yes, mother I remember Nini,” Gina responded, adding emphasis on the nickname she knew Nini loved.
“Well, my young lady. What I was going to tell you is that her mothers called me and told me that she’s missing.”