Archive of Our Own ^beta

The door to the principal’s office files open and Nina “Nini” Salazar-Roberts—not a quiet person under the best of circumstances—is even louder than usual as they stomp out of the door. Her well-worn Doc Martens slap a rapid beat down the hall as their two best friends, Jet and Ashlyn, who were waiting outside the office for her, rush to catch up.

“Nini, wait up,” Ashlyn calls from behind them.

Nini wheels around, and the look of outrage, of unbridled anger on her face would be enough to scare most people. Her two friends are not most people. They’ve seen Nini get this worked up plenty of times. And sometimes it’s justified, like when a group of parents raised an issue about a transgender student using the changing rooms appropriate for their correct gender. And sometimes it’s because Taco Bell put sour cream on their Crunchwrap Supreme when they specifically asked for no sour cream. There’s no injustice that Nini will take in stride.

“Someone rolled on us and we can’t use the music room for band practice anymore, because it’s ‘not a school activity’ whatever the fuck that means,” Nini says through gritted teeth.

The trio of friends formed a band, Misfit Toys (a name landed on after Nini’s other suggestions were vetoed, including Dykehead, uncircumcised dyke, and the cruchwrap supremes; like whatever happened to fun?), after Nini quit drama club freshman year. The drama club issue is still a sore spot for Nini, but the band means the world to her. And while it’s something fun to do in their spare time for Ashlyn and Jet, Nini takes it very seriously.

“I think it means that our band doesn’t play for the school. Just when we can get someone to pay us to play at their parties, or that one time we played for all of your lola’s friends,” Jet says.

“I know what it means, Jet,” Nini nearly shouts. “But Miss Jenn told us we could practice there, and then someone said something to Principal Gutierrez, and now we’ve been kicked out.”

“Yeah, that sucks,” Ashlyn adds, looking down, refusing to meet Nini’s eyes.

Nini knows that look. Ashlyn feels guilty about something. And usually, it’s something to do with his step sister: Nini’s nemesis, Gina Porter.

“Ashlyn?” Nini says.

“Yeah?” Ashlyn asks, still not able to look Nini in the eye.

“Did she have something to do with this?”

“Well,” Ashlyn says.

“Ashlyn?”

“Yes and no,” Ashlyn says. A beat. “Well, not no, just yes. She’s the one that said something.”

“Fuck!” Nini shouts, and stomps her foot. “I knew it! It’s always her, I fucking hate her. I—”

Out the corner of her eye, Nini spots a brightly colored poster affixed to the wall. “VOTE GINA PORTER: SGA PRESIDENT,” the poster reads. And maybe it’s a small act of defiance, but Nini marches over to the poster and rips it from the wall. She tries to tear it in half, but it proves difficult, as the poster is laminated. Of course it is.

As Nini continues to try (and fails) to tear the poster in half, a chime broadcasts over the intercom. Followed closely by the voice of the robotics and engineering teacher, Mr. Mazzara.

“Hello students,” he says, his voice characteristically devoid of any emotion. Off-handedly Nini thinks that he may be the one person who, based on his tone, wants to be here at East High as little as they do. He continues, “This is a reminder that elections for next year’s student government are coming up. So far only one student has registered to run for president. If you are interested in running, you can come to my office, or the office of my Student Government Association co-sponsor Miss Jenn to sign up. The deadline to sign up to run is tomorrow.”

It’s an announcement that Nini would normally ignore. Honestly she generally ignores all of the announcements. But right time, right place or whatever.

Nini lets the poster she tore from the wall fall to the floor and begins to stomp away in the opposite direction.

Ashlyn and Jet put it together pretty quickly. They would; they know Nini better than anyone in the world, aside from Nini’s grandmother. But still they ask.

“Where are you going?” Jet asks. Ashlyn would’ve asked, but he feels like Nini is still probably upset at them for not telling Nini what her sister was planning.

“Going to see Miss Jenn,” Nini says, not turning around to look at her friends.

Jet is the first to voice a protest. “Come on, Neens, you’re not gonna run—”

Ashlyn doesn’t even want the idea to be spoken aloud, so they interrupt, even as the pursuit of Nini continues. “Nini, it’s fine, we can practice in my basement.”

“Your basement, in the house you share with Gina? That doesn’t really solve the Gina problem, does it?” Nini answers.

“We could practice in my garage again,” Jet adds.

That does make Nini stop and spin back around. “Are you fucking kidding me, Jet? The acoustics in your garage are shit! It sounds like we’re playing in a tin can that’s been shoved inside someone’s asshole.”

“That got more graphic than I was prepared for,” Jet mumbles.

“Yeah, no. Fuck that, and fuck Gina,” Nini says, turning to walk away. But then just before she does, they turn back around. She’s wearing the most irritating smirk now, and the tone of her voice is so grotesquely sweet, almost coquettish it can only mean trouble when they say, “I’m Nina Salazar-Roberts, I’m running for President, and I approve this message.”

—------------------------

Genevieve “Gina” Porter sits at the table in the Porter-Caswell home’s breakfast nook. Her mother—the impossible to please Terri Porter—sits across from her.

“How many do you have left on your list to finish?” Terri asks.

The list in question is college applications. The list was made by Terri. There are fifteen schools on the list. And it’s crazy, because no one is even submitting applications until summer, and it’s the last week in March. I mean for fuck’s sake, she doesn’t even have her final grades from her junior year yet! But Terri is a perfectionist, and wants Gina to have everything ready to go once it makes sense to start submitting them.

“Fourteen,” Gina admits. She says it confidently, because she sucks at coming up with a lie on the spot, but she knows from years of experience if you say the wrong thing but with confidence, most people won’t even notice that you gave them the answer they didn’t want.

Terri Porter is not most people.

“You’ve finished fourteen, or…”

Terri lets that last part hang. Daring Gina to admit she hasn’t done what was expected of her.

“I did Yale,” Gina says, a little of her confidence from before gone. Not all of it. But a little. “That’s all that matters though, right? It’s Yale. It’s always been Yale, since I was a little girl. I’m a double legacy. Or, I don’t know, maybe a triple legacy?”

Gina’s mom and dad both went to Yale. At Yale, Terri met Dennis, Gina’s step-dad, even if they didn’t get together until years later. It’s the only place for her.

“Maybe Yale’s the place for you, but it doesn’t hurt to have options, Genevieve,” Terri responds.

“I don’t need options, mom. I’m getting into Yale. On top of being a legacy, I have perfect grades, top 3 in my class, thousands of hours of service work, top 1% SATs and ACTs, three pages of extracurriculars, and soon I’ll be elected president of the student government. They can’t reject me.”

Gina’s appeal must have landed at least a little, because Terri sits back in her chair, no longer appearing to be on the attack.

“How is your campaign going, anyway?” Terri asks.

“Fine,” Gina says. “Good, I mean it’s just a formality, I’m running unopposed, so.”

“Not anymore,” says a voice from the other side of the kitchen. It’s Ashlyn, Gina’s step-sister. Gina was so caught up in her conversation with her mom that she didn’t even notice Ashlyn walk in and grab a water from the refrigerator. Not that she makes it a habit of tracking or even acknowledging Ashlyn’s presence. But at least this time, he was without his stupid friends. Jet, Gina can take in small doses. After all, Jet is Maddox’s brother, and when they’re not around Ashlyn, and worst of all, their friend Nina, Jet can be down right tolerable.

Nina is the bane of Gina’s existence. She remembers meeting Nina freshman year at auditions for the fall musical. They were a quiet, mousy little thing. But then the final cast list was posted, and Nina never showed up to drama club again. After that, Nina became a constant thorn in Gina’s side. Gone was the shy, nervous girl from auditions, and in her place the most loud mouthed, annoying loser in existence emerged. Any time they interacted with Gina, they had some little shitty remark. And Gina is positive Nina is the one who stole Gina’s shoes before a dance competition the previous year.

And the three of them have a lame little band, and Nina likes to pretend they’re the Beatles or something when they can’t even book a school function and—

Wait. What did Ashlyn mean Gina wasn’t running unopposed anymore?

“What are you talking about?” Gina asks.

“Oh, you didn’t hear?” Ashlyn says, smirking. And god, Gina wants to smack that look off their face. “Someone signed up today.”

“You’re lying,” Gina says, even as she pulls out her phone and furiously browses to the East High SGA Election page. She clicks on the race for president, and Ashlyn wasn’t lying.

“Are you kidding me?” Gina shouts.

“Genevieve, no shouting in the house,” Terri reprimands.

Gina is not dissuaded.

“Your stupid, annoying little asshole of a friend is—what the hell Ashlyn?”

“Genevieve!”

Gina does mumble a “sorry” to her mother after that, but her attention swings back to Ashlyn.

“She’s your dumb friend, tell her to drop out,” Gina says.

Ashlyn looks at Gina dumbfounded for a moment. Does his sister actually think Nini would listen to what they had to say? Of course not! Because Ashlyn actually did try to talk Nini out of running. Nini told her to fuck off. And maybe it’s the residual feeling from that, or maybe it’s the thing that always annoys them: Gina’s entitled attitude. But in that moment, Ashlyn realizes that not only will they not tell Nini to drop out of the race, but they will actively do anything he can to help Nini win.

“No,” Ashlyn says, smirking again, before walking upstairs to her room

—------------------------

Gina stands outside East High facing her boyfriend, Mack Alana. They’re holding hands, but Gina’s eyes are anywhere but on Mack’s face. Instead she’s gauging the volume and the quality of the crowd that walks past them, waiting for the perfect time for some very mild PDA to garner the appropriate and correct attention.

And it’s not that she doesn’t like Mack! He’s cute, and they’ve had a lot of fun, at times. It’s just, it’s like her mom said, it’s just a high school relationship. After graduation, they’ll go their own ways—Gina to Yale, Mack to Columbia. And in the meantime, Gina can take advantage of the social profit he provides. Mack is the most popular and sought after guy in the school, his dad is a powerful and wealthy big oil lobbyist, and he throws the best parties.

Just then, a crowd of the more affluent students starts to walk towards Gina and Mack. So Gina closes her eyes, leans in, and chastely presses her lips against Mack.

Four seconds. One…two…three —

“Jesus fuck, Porter, what the fuck is that?”

Gina opens her eyes and sees her mortal enemy standing close enough that Gina can smell their patchouli with notes of vanilla, a scent Gina is sure is intended to cover the stench of weed. It often doesn't. Gina shakes her head and refocuses on the conversation.

“Kissing my boyfriend, sorry no one wants you, Nina,” Gina shoots back.

“Dude, that’s your boyfriend? I thought he was your brother. Why did you kiss him like he’s your brother?”

“You know he’s not—”

Gina stops and takes a deep breath. She won’t rise to Nina’s bait. Not this morning. “You know what? I don’t care what you think.”

Nina scoffs, and walks away with Ashlyn and Jet. As they’re leaving, Gina hears her sister say, “It must be the family resemblance, because I know that’s exactly how I look when I don’t care about something.”

The three losers cackle as they walk away, and Gina seethes.

The first bell of the day rings summoning the students to class. Kourtney and Maddox, Gina’s two closest friends take their places at her side and together they walk in the front doors of East High. The routine helps Gina flush her anger. Or at least her anger about the incident outside the school. Instead, her anger about the election returns.

“Can you believe that little shit?”

Maddox and Kourtney groan. Gina assumes it’s because they, too, are sick of Nini’s annoying ass. In reality Maddox and Kourtney are sick of hearing about how annoying Gina finds Nini.

“There’s no way she thinks she can beat me. She’s probably doing it just to fuck with me,” Gina says.

“Yeah,” dutifully Kourtney and Maddox answer in unison.

There’s silence for a moment as they continue to walk. But as she looks around, Gina notices something.

“And look. I haven’t seen one poster about her candidacy. She isn’t walking the halls meeting people. They’re not passing out information about their campaign, or buttons, or anything. Goes to prove my point, though. Nina never takes anything seriously. Everything’s a goddamn joke to them.”

“Huh,” Maddox says.

Gina and Kourtney both look over at them.

“Have you guys noticed all these QR codes everywhere?”

“You know,” Kourtney says. “Yeah it didn’t click until now but what is that? What are they for?”

“One of you scan it,” Gina says quickly. “I don’t want spyware on my phone if it’s malicious.”

Maddox shrugs and does as they were instructed. “Oh,” she says looking at her phone. “It’s Nina’s campaign site.”

Gina snatches the phone and starts browsing. The page opens to a picture of Nina’s stupid face, and…

“Cute,” Gina says dryly, upon seeing Nina’s apparent campaign slogan: putting the BIG D back in Democracy.

There’s a list of meaningless, empty platform descriptors, like representation for working class kids, kids from non-traditional households, and the lgbtq+ community; and the most whiny ass “has no money” part, equal opportunities for all students, regardless of their parents’ wealth. But of course nothing substantive to back any of that up.

There’s a link to donate to the campaign, because of course Nina’s broke ass would ask other students to give them weed money.

Then there is an entire section of the site dedicated to how horrible Gina is. Nothing that would get Nina in trouble with administration, but still just nasty. And some of them are just ridiculous, like:

*It has not been disproven that Gina is actually a 400 year old witch who maintains her youthful appearance and vigor by eating the hearts of strong, healthy teenagers.

But Gina doesn’t complain about any of that out loud. Instead, she just says, “Ugly ass page. Look how much better mine looks.”

Gina types in the address of her campaign website, and…

“What the hell?”

It’s not Gina’s site. It’s Nina’s homepage again. Thinking she may have typed it in wrong, she tries again. Still redirects to Nina’s page. Gina practically throws Maddox’s phone back to them, and pulls her own phone out. When she opens Safari, it already opens to Gina’s homepage. Except this time, it redirects to Nina’s page. Gina can practically feel the steam pouring out of her ears.

Ashlyn comes in from the hall and slides by Gina, who is still standing in the doorway to the classroom to get into the room. Once by his sister, Ashlyn looks back.

“You look mad,” Ashlyn says, with a fake pouting expression. “Maybe you should tell mom not to leave passwords on a notepad on the desk in the study.”

It takes everything in Gina’s power not to crush the phone in her hand.

—------------------------

It’s funny how everyone thinks Nini doesn’t care about anything. Oh, they’re aware of that perception, but it’s total bullshit. The fact is, Nini cares about a lot of things. She loves her moms, and her lola most of all. And she would do anything for her friends. She cares deeply about lgbtq+ rights. And they pour every ounce of passion they have into their band. When Nini cares about something, they put their full heart behind it.

But as a rule, Nini never puts all of her effort, all of their heart into something they don’t think is attainable. It hurts too much when she fails. But after putting up her campaign site, and seeing donations come in from dozens of fellow students—students Nini knows don’t have money to just throw around—it sparks something in her.

Maybe it’s being an outsider because they’re the daughter of lesbians in the middle of Utah. Maybe it’s hearing the stories of all the struggles her lola had in moving to the United States with an infant, Nini’s mother, and taking from those stories how cruel the world can be. Maybe it’s just being a fucking loser, but whatever it is, Nini isn’t accustomed to having other people believe in them. Outside of her close circle, anyway.

But these kids truly believe in them. For some reason. It’s weird. And it makes Nini want to actually try. Not just appear to try just enough to piss Gina off.

So Nini goes down a TikTok rabbit hole of political campaign tips. They read articles about elected officials who have actually effected change in their countries, states, and communities. And they actually open the student government handbook that Miss Jenn gave her when she signed up to run and focuses on how the position could allow them to make the high school experience better for every student. Not just those whose parents have tons of cash. She starts to build a real platform.

Nini spends the night texting ideas to Ashlyn and Jet, who give their opinions for a while at least. Before it gets too late and they both beg off. And the next morning, Nini takes the $174 the campaign has collected from small donations, and goes to the school computer lab at lunch. She pays one of the hacker nerds in there to get them a list of as many phone numbers from kids at the school as they can. They get her a list of over 2,000 names and numbers. The hacker, who admits he was one of the people who donated to Nini’s campaign even helps her setup a text bot with the numbers to send out information about their platform to as many students as possible.

Ashlyn is not thrilled when he hears the idea.

“I don’t know, Neens. Sounds illegal,” they say.

But Nini is ready to counter that argument.

“Actually, did you know that the,” she pulls out her phone and starts reading something, “Telephone Consumer Protection Act, the law that would cover abusive use of any telephonic communication including text messages exempts political campaigns from being bound by the same rules as corporations and individuals?”

“Damn, so you’re above the law now? Does that mean we can get away with anything?” Jet asks.

“No,” Ashlyn says quickly. She may be the first one to try to cause chaos, but he knows their friends tend to take it way too far if you don’t keep a lid on things. “But Nini, I don’t think that exemption will extend to a student government election.”

Nini shrugs. “I don’t know, maybe not. But TCPA lawyers are only interested in going after big corporations. Like millions or billions of dollars. There’s no money in coming after a high school student, whose parents both make under $70,000 working at a non-profit.”

It’s not until that afternoon that Nini learns how wrong they are, when they’re served with a cease and desist as they leave school. The name on the letterhead: Cash Caswell. Gina and Ashlyn’s uncle.

“Fuck!” Nini half groans, half shouts. But she texts her new hacker friend to tell him to take the texting bot offline. Gina won this round.

—------------------------

“Ambush” is such an ugly word, so Gina prefers to think of it as a “family meeting” as she and her mom wait by the door for Ashlyn to arrive home.

Ending Nina’s text scam was a good start to regaining control of the election, but if there’s one thing Gina knows, if there’s one thing her mother taught her, it’s that you don’t take your foot off the neck of your opponent when you have them down.

The front door opens, and Ashlyn walks in. Gina paints a smile on her face that she hopes looks sincere. She glances over at her mom to see that Terri is doing the same.

“What—why are you waiting on me like that? And what’s wrong with your faces?” Ashlyn says, his body language and tone turning guarded immediately.

Gina does her best then to appear more neutral, and it’s Terri who speaks first.

“Ashlyn, dear, we just wanted to talk to you about something.”

Ashlyn slowly starts to back away. “Is this an intervention? I think you’re legally required to tell me if it’s an intervention. But I only used Zyns for two weeks. I was trying something. But I stopped, we don’t have to—”

“Ashlyn, it’s okay. You didn’t do anything wrong, Ashlyn,” Terri says.

“Right but that’s exactly the thing you would say if this was an intervention. And also you keep using my name, which is weird, so…”

Gina huffs out a frustrated sigh. “Jesus, Ash. I need to ask for your help.”

“Oh?” Ashlyn says, genuinely taken off guard. Then, “Oh?” they ask, this time with just a tinge of mischief. Gina needing something from them? It’s intriguing.

“Don’t get smug,” Gina says. She’s not used to being in a powerless position, and honestly she’s not a fan. And Ashlyn may be her sister, but that doesn’t mean she’s going to grovel.

“Ashlyn,” Terri says, taking up the role of diplomat that Gina did not want to have to fill herself.

“I know you’re friends with Nina. So we were hoping you could—”

“I’m not selling out my friend,” Ashlyn says coldly. Gina and Terri are family by marriage, but Nini and Jet are Ashlyn’s family by choice.

“We don’t want you to sell her out,” Terri responds. “We just think—”

“And over a stupid school election? Why do you even care so much about this? If you stopped looking like you care so much, Nini would stop running,” Ashlyn says, looking right at Gina. “They’re just doing it to piss you off.”

Gina considers it for a moment, she does. Because Ashlyn knows Nina as well as anyone. But it’s also not a risk Gina can take.

“Even if that’s true, I can’t depend on the idea that she might drop out of the race if I just ignore them. I need this for my resume. And I know you don’t care about things like that because you’re doing a gap year in Europe, but for some of us—”

“Fuck you,” Ashlyn spits. “You think I don’t care about anything? Just because I want to take a year to decide what I want to do instead of wasting time as an undeclared freshman?”

Ashlyn starts to walk away and Gina realizes she went too far. She has one last card to play, and it was in case everything went to shit. Which it has.

“I’m sorry,” Gina says, quickly moving to follow after Ashlyn. Ashlyn turns around and Gina grabs his hand, holding it in both of her own. She looks into Ashlyn’s eyes and continues, “I shouldn’t have implied you don’t care about anything. I think the stress of everything is just getting to me. But I was hoping you would help me, as my sister.”

“You want me to help you, but what do you mean by that? I’m not going to do anything to sabotage Nini.”

“I’m not asking you to sabotage them,” Gina says. “Just, I want to know what she’s planning. I don’t want to be surprised by anything she comes up with or says. That’s all I’m asking for is information.”

Ashlyn responds quickly. “But that’s still hurting my friend, and—”

“If you help me, I’ll help you,” Gina interrupts.

That stops Ashlyn in their tracks. “What would you even ‘help me’ with?”

Gina takes a long, dramatic breath, and looks down for a moment before focusing back on Ashlyn. “If you just let me know what Nina is planning with her campaign until it’s over, I’ll talk to Maddox for you.”

There it is. That’s what Gina had in her back pocket this whole time. She knows Ashlyn has a huge crush on Gina’s friend. And honestly Maddox has been crushing on Ashlyn since middle school, but Gina has stood in the way, dissuaded Maddox from pursuing Ashlyn. Even if it would be incredibly weird to have her best friend dating her sister, it’s a sacrifice she’s willing to make if it helps her beat Nina. And of course Ashlyn doesn’t need to know that it’s been Gina standing in their way all along.

“Wait, what? You’re not just saying that?” Ashlyn asks.

Ashlyn is a loyal person, but she likes Maddox Park so much. They’re just so cute, and funny, and Ashlyn has been down horrendously for her really since he realized he likes girls. It’s why going over to Jet’s house is always simultaneously a treat, and torture. Getting to see Jet’s sister: best part of Ashlyn’s day. Knowing Maddox is unattainable: could ruin the best mood.

“They like you, Ash. Really they do, but they’ve been scared to make a move.” More like Maddox is scared of Gina and that’s why they haven’t made a move, but again, Ashlyn doesn't need to know that, Gina decides. “But I can help. Let me help you, as your sister.”

“And you just want to know what Nini is planning?” Ashlyn asks. Fuck, they feel like such a sell-out. But it’s Maddox! And it’s not like Nini actually cares about this stupid election, they can find some other way to get under Gina’s skin.

“Just some information,” Gina says sweetly, knowing she has Ashlyn at this point. “Just help me, as my sister, and I’ll help you.”

“Okay,” Ashlyn says, feeling a little defeated, but also a little exhilarated by the prospects of finally talking to his crush. “So Nini texted me a bunch of talking points for the debate on Thursday, will that help?”

A huge smile spreads across Gina’s face then. “That’s a perfect place to start.”

—------------------------

Nini paces just offstage in the school auditorium. They peek around the curtain and see that seats are filling up. Probably a couple hundred students have come during their lunch to watch this debate. 

It’s not like she’s never been on a stage before. Their band has performed in front of people. But something about this is different. Maybe it’s because everyone there will actually pay attention to what they have to say. Maybe it’s because she’ll be up there alone, and not with her two best friends. Whatever it is, Nini can feel the nerves. And it didn’t help seeing a sophomore running for student council treasurer get scared and throw up on the stage.

“Neens, relax, you got this,” Jet says. He looks over to Ashlyn to back them up, but Ashlyn’s focus seems to be anywhere else. “Right, Ashlyn?” Jet adds.

“What?” Ashlyn says. “Oh, yeah, you’ll do great, Nini. Um, I need to go take care of something. You guys okay?”

Nini nods, and Ashlyn turns to leave.

“What’s up with him today?” Nini asks Jet, as Ashlyn walks away. “You know what, can’t focus on that right now, have to be mentally ready.”

Nini shuffles the notecards in their hands. The one rule for the debate, no phones, so all of her notes are on these cards.

“Hey,” Jet says, grabbing Nini by their shoulders, and looking directly in her eyes. “You got this.”

Nini closes her eyes and takes a deep breath. Then she looks at Jet again. “You’re right. I got this. Thanks.”

Principal Gutierrez’s voice sounds from the speakers in the auditorium as he calls the candidates to the stage. Nini starts to walk away, but looks back at Jet just once more.

“You got this,” they repeat.

There are two lecterns on the stage, and Nini takes her place at the one closest to them. They arrange their note cards, and a blank sheet of paper so she can make notes about what Gina says in her opening remarks, so Nini can address those points. In the front row sit Miss Jenn and Mr. Mazzara, the student government association co-sponsors. They will be asking the questions throughout the debate.

Gina is first to speak.

“First of all, I want to thank everyone who took time out of their day to join us here today. I’m running for student council president because I care so much about this school. About my fellow students; about our teachers who are not only leading us academically, but are helping guide us to become the best versions of ourselves we can be; and about the environment we have here at East High.”

She is so full of shit , Nini thinks. She doesn’t care about anyone who doesn’t help her get what she wants.

“You’re going to hear my opponent talk about how much privilege I grew up with. About how my family’s success is somehow an indicator that I don’t understand the struggle of students who don’t have the financial resources I have always enjoyed. And I understand why some of you may feel that way. But that’s why, as your president, I will depend on you, all of you, to tell me what you need. When you see me walking around campus, when we have a class together, if we run into one another outside of school, come talk to me. Help me understand your needs.”

Well, that pretty much ruins the first three lines of the opening address Nini prepared. She crosses them out on her note card.

“I’m sure Nina will also tell you that they’re one of you,” Gina continues. “But how many of you really know her? My opponent doesn’t bother to get to know any of you. She isolates herself in her small group of friends. And listen, there’s nothing wrong with being an introvert! But when you want to serve the community, you actually need to be an active participant in that community.”

That was Nini’s second point. Two more lines to cross off her cards. Then another. Three more after that. It’s almost like Gina is going down a list and refuting every point Nini was going to make. Suddenly the stage lights are excruciatingly hot. She feels sweat start to bead on her forehead, one drop sliding down the bridge of her nose. They furiously wipe it away and turn their notecards over. Those are useless now.

Nini looks out into the audience, desperate for some spark of an idea they can speak on when it’s their turn to give opening remarks. She doesn’t find an answer. Well, she doesn’t find an answer as to what she can say when it’s her turn, but the answer to how Gina seems to know everything Nini planned to say becomes very obvious.

Sitting in the third row is Ashlyn. Sitting next to Maddox. Holding hands with Maddox. And when Ashlyn realizes Nini is looking at him, they quickly look away. If Ashlyn’s proximity to Maddox wasn’t enough of a clue, Nini would know how guilty Ashlyn is by the expression on her face.

Nini’s stomach drops. They were sold out by their best friend.

Finally, mercifully, Gina reaches the end of her time. Miss Jenn acknowledges Nini, and the timer starts, but she doesn’t have anything to say.

Ten seconds go by. Twenty. Thirty. Nini stares blankly at the back of the auditorium. Until finally they manage to mumble out, “I’m Nina Salazar-Roberts, please vote for me for SGA president. I yield the rest of my time.”

After that disaster, there are three questions—one from Miss Jenn, one from Mr. Mazarra, and one read by a student who Nini doesn’t recognize, nor whose introduction they were even able to pay attention to—both candidates have to answer. That doesn’t go any better. Nini looks ill-prepared, overwhelmed, and she just wants to crawl under the floor and never be seen again.

When the debate is finally over, Nini feels more defeated than they ever have in their life. She stumbles off stage, and into a hug from Jet. He doesn’t say anything. He doesn’t ask them anything. Jet knows that’s not what Nini needs right now. So they just hug them tighter.

—------------------------

Nini doesn’t quit the race immediately after the debate disaster. They try to, but Miss Jenn tells them to take a couple of days to think about it. So she does. She thinks about it at her campaign headquarters, also known as the spot under the bleachers of the football field where Nini, Jet, and Ashlyn always hang out and smoke weed.

Ashlyn.

He avoids Nini like the plague after everything went down, which hurts almost as much as the initial betrayal. But at least she still has Jet. And Jet has weed.

“Have you seen Ash?” Nini asks, breaking the silence they had been sitting in, and passing the blunt back to Jet. They don’t answer at first, so Nini speaks again. “Come on, we had to bring them up at some point.”

Jet takes a long drag and holds it in before puffing out the smoke. He sighs then. “Yeah, she’s been at my house a couple of times. Not to see me, but you know.”

Nini nods. “That’s what makes it so hard. I know how much he likes your sister. Has since we were in, what, seventh grade? But is it wrong that I’m so angry that they did that?”

Jet passes back to Nini before shaking his head. “No, you’re not wrong. I’m angry, too.”

“That’s sweet, Jet,” Nini says.

“I’m angry that Gina didn’t offer me that deal. Imagine I could be with Kourtney right now?”

Despite her dour mood, that pulls a chuckle out of Nini, and they punch Jet’s arm.

“Asshole,” she says.

Nini hears footsteps approaching from behind. Quickly they stomp out the blunt and try to appear natural. She also pulls her phone out and hits record. After all! It could be a cop, and if they assault her and Jet, it needs to be recorded.

It’s not a cop. It’s not even a teacher. It’s Gina’s boyfriend.

“Mack, what the fuck?” Nini groans. “I thought you were a teacher, and I wasted perfectly good weed.”

“Sorry about that,” Mack says with a smirk. Nini fucking hates his smirk. She hates everything about him. As much as they hate Gina, Mack may be even worse. Kind of crazy how the two most intolerable people in school ended up together.

“Here to gloat about Gina kicking my ass in that debate?” Nini asks. It’s the only logical thing she can think of as to why he would seek her out.

“The opposite, actually,” Mack says.

“You came here to lose to Nini in a debate?” Jet asks, confused. Probably because he’s a little baked.

“What?” Mack says. “No, I’m here to offer you a deal.”

“I was already gonna drop out of the race, but if you want to bribe me, I’ll take it and go drop out right now.”

“I don’t want you to drop out,” Mack says. But follows it up with nothing else.

“Dude, quit trying to be mysterious or whatever. Just tell me what you fucking want, and leave me alone,” Nini says.

“Well,” Mack says, clearing his throat, “I want to help you beat Gina.”

Nini chuckles under their breath. “Oh, I’m sure you do. And how are you going to help me, Mack.”

He shrugs. “Let’s just say, Gina’s phone is not as secure as she might think it is.”

It’s not uncommon for Nini to feel the ick around any boy who’s not Jet, to be honest. She doesn’t like them, she doesn’t trust them, they don’t understand her. But this is worse than that normal uneasy feeling men give her. This makes Nini’s skin crawl.

“What do you mean?” Nini manages to say.

“I’ve had Gina’s phone hacked since we started dating. I see all of her text messages, voicemails, every picture she saves, everything. And trust me, Nina, there’s no shortage of things you could use to end her campaign.”

Nini is almost too disgusted to form words. “Why?” is all she can say.

“Simple,” Mack says. He turns around and faces the opening in the bleachers, looking out over the empty football field. “Since she started this stupid race, she doesn’t have time for me. Barely acknowledges my existence.”

“So you’re jealous? Lonely?” Nini asks.

“What?” Mack laughs. “No, nothing so sentimental as that. It’s about appearances. My girlfriend is ignoring me. Everyone sees that. And I end up looking like a neglected puppy following her around school. It’s a bad look for me. But if this campaign ends, she goes back to being my dutiful girlfriend, and I restore my rightful place on top of the social ladder.”

If you had asked Nini a month ago—even a week ago—or even this very morning if there was anything they wouldn’t do to take Gina Porter down, they would have said no. But this? Nini has never felt more gross just talking with another person. She’s never hated another person as much as she does at this moment. There’s a line Nini realizes she will never cross. She will never work with some manipulative, asshole man to hurt another woman. No matter how much they may dislike that woman.

“So, ready to make a deal?” Mack asks, smugly sticking his hand out.

Nini takes a step back. “Mack,” she grits out through clenched teeth. “I’m going to need you to fuck all the way off. You are the lowest piece of shit I have ever met. No, we don’t have a deal, and don’t ever talk to me again. Ever.”

Mack looks shocked at Nini’s rebuke, but she’s too pissed off to care about that. They grab Jet by the arm, and pull him away. As they’re walking, Nini realizes she’s still holding her phone. And it’s still recording. They angrily smash the button to stop the recording and shove the phone in their back pocket.

“Where we going?” Jet asks.

“The last place in the world I want to go,” Nini answers.

—------------------------

Gina sits exactly where she normally does after school: in Mr. Mazzara’s class, doing homework before poms practice. She’s almost done with her pre-cal when she hears the door creak open. She doesn’t bother to look up. No one would dare bother her.

Someone clears their throat. Gina ignores the sound.

“Gina?”

Gina knows (and loathes) that voice. She sets her pencil down, and looks up, finally.

“Nina, here to concede?”

“Uh, no,” Nina says. “Look, this is incredibly uncomfortable. I don’t like you.”

“I don’t like you, either. And I’m completely comfortable knowing that,” Gina says.

“I wasn’t done,” Nina says.

“Then talk faster.”

“Your asshole boyfriend is spying on your phone,” Nina blurts out.

Of all the things Gina expected this loser to say, it wasn’t that.

“What the hell are you talking about?”

Nina heaves out a breath. “Mack came to me today and offered to help me win the election. He said that he’s had your phone hacked for years. He has all of your photos, all of your texts, everything. And he wanted to give all of that to me, so I can beat you, and you’ll go back to just being his girlfriend.”

“You’re lying,” Gina says flatly. How dare this bitch make up something like that. How dare they try to use Mack to throw Gina off her game just because they lost a debate. Is this her attempt at revenge for Ashlyn?

“I’m not,” Nina says calmly. “I didn’t take it. I would never. But I thought you should know.”

“I don’t know what game you’re playing, you pathetic loser, but that shit’s not going to work on me,” Gina says, her voice growing louder with every word. “Just leave me the fuck alone.”

Gina’s not one to lose her cool. But something about Nina just gets under her skin. She can’t put a finger on it. Just this bubbling, visceral hatred lying deep inside.

Nina looks at her for a moment, tilts their head, and then shrugs and walks away. Good. That was pathetic and Gina is so glad Nina is leaving.

“Just, okay,” Gina hears Nina say from the doorway.

Just as Gina looks up, Nina has walked back across the room and is shoving a phone in her face. A video plays. It’s a video of Mack. It’s a video of Mack telling Nina exactly what Nina said that he said. That he has Gina’s phone hacked. That he regularly goes through her personal texts, voicemails, photos, everything.

Gina has never felt so violated. It feels like the world is collapsing around her. It’s humiliating and soul crushing at the same time. The betrayal!

“Anyway,” Nina says, putting their phone back in their pocket. “You should get a new phone. Or don’t, I really don’t care.”

And with that, Nina walks away, leaving Gina to sit in her devastation alone.

—------------------------

Gina doesn’t sleep that night. If asked to describe what she’s going through, Gina would say it’s akin to heartbreak, but not in the classic romantic sense. She never loved Mack. He was a smart choice for a high school boyfriend because of his family’s wealth and influence. He was a fun distraction. His confidence was attractive. So she was, at one point, attracted to him. But it was never love.

But still her heart feels broken. With anger. Anger at Mack for taking advantage of her, and violating her privacy. Anger at Mack that he made her feel safe, if not inspired when she was anything but safe around him. And anger at herself that she let herself be so vulnerable.

She spends hours stewing in that anger and resentment. But then around 3 AM (because she has been watching the clock all night), a new emotion occurs that keeps her from getting any sleep.

Fear.

Nina said they didn’t take Gina’s personal information from Mack, and Gina is inclined to believe her. But they still have the video of Mack admitting what he did to Gina. Admitting how he played her for an idiot. And if Nina were to leak that video, it could ruin Gina. She would look weak, helpless, like a victim.

She suffers the rest of the night with that dread. She’s not even sure if she ever slept before her alarm clock goes off, but manages to roll out of bed and pour herself into the shower. Getting ready takes longer than usual, getting out the front door takes longer than usual. And Gina arrives at school half an hour late.

She avoids most social interactions that day, communicating even to Maddox and Kourtney is short, clipped phrases.

It isn’t until fifteen minutes before the final bell of the day that Gina realizes what she has to do to relieve her of at least the anguish she feels for what Nina might do with the recording. She has to talk to Nina.

Luckily, Nina is not a hard person to find. They are reliably standing around under the bleachers as soon as Gina gets there. And fortunately, Jet’s not with her. She knows Nina doesn’t see her coming, and because she knows she might have to grovel to get what she wants, she decides to be nice and announce herself.

“It’s just me, Nina, you don’t have to throw your drugs away,” she says loud enough for Nina to hear.

Nina turns around while taking a long drag of smoke, which they blow in Gina’s face as soon as they’re close enough.

“It’s weed, not drugs,” Nina says with a smirk.

“Same thing,” Gina quickly responds, sputtering and coughing.

Nina holds their mouth in a thin line before speaking again. “What do you want, Gina?”

“I need to ask you a favor,” Gina says, and she knows her voice sounds strained, bitter. She can’t help it.

“You need to what? Is Princess Gina Porter humbling herself before a lowly serf like me?” Nina says mockingly. “That’s crazy, because the last time we talked, I seem to remember you calling me a pathetic, lying, loser, or something like that.”

Gina can’t take it and snaps back. “Well you are!”

“Oh I have been all three of those, and I will be again, but yesterday I was just doing the right thing,” Nina says, and is Gina imagining things? The way Nina said that, it doesn't sound like the usual asshole tone they always use with Gina, but more of a teasing voice. Almost smug but flirty. But that can't be right. Gina shakes that notion from her head. She's probably just on edge because of the Mack revelation.

“Fine, I’m sorry,” Gina says. She still needs Nina's help, even if having to apologize to Nina feels like a fate worse than hell.

“So how can I serve you, your highness?” Nina asks, and fuck this girl is so smug the moment they have an ounce of leverage. Again, it's just a different look to Nina, one Gina is not familiar with. But rather than deal with any confusion from this other side of her arch nemesis, she decides to be angry. 

“You know what, fuck—”

“You want me to delete the video?” Nina asks.

That stops Gina in her tracks. “How did you—?”

“I deleted it as soon as I showed it to you. I wasn’t going to keep that. I can’t stand you, Gina, but I’m not going to be part of a man destroying a woman.”

“Thank you,” Gina says reflexively, relief starting to fill her. Relief that the video is gone. And another wave of confusion that Nina is not being who Gina usually thinks she is.

“I would never do that,” Nina emphasizes.

“No, I believe you,” Gina says. And she’s being honest, she really trusts that Nina has that core principle. “But thank you.”

“It’s fine,” Nina says. “Just doing the right thing again. Guess that’s something I do now.”

“Well,” Gina starts, and almost says thank you again, but that would just sound stupid. So she says, “yeah,” and turns to walk away.

“Hey, Gina?” Nina says, and their tone is a little lighter this time. Or at least lacking the cocky, teasing thing she had before. So Gina turns around. “That guy fucking sucks. You deserve way better than that.”

Then nothing. No little comment about how little she thinks Gina deserves, so that’s really saying something, or something else shitty like that. That’s what Gina would have expected. But no. Nina just said that. Who is this girl today?

“What are you doing?” Gina asks, her confusion getting the better of her.

“What do you mean?”

What does Gina mean? She honestly doesn't know. Is she just talking about the whole saying something nice, or the fact that Nina has been pleasant and even charming in their own way through an entire conversation with Gina? 

“You have to be careful, Nina. You almost said something nice, and you wouldn’t want anyone to think you like me,” Gina says, and she hears herself. It's not a light jokey comment, not how she says it. Her voice drops an octave, it's smoldering almost bordering on sensual.

And honestly, she has no idea where it came from. And judging by the stunned look on Nina’s face, they weren’t expecting that, either. So Gina does the only sensible thing she can think to do. She turns and walks away without another word.

As she rounds the corner, out of eyesight of Nina, Gina shakes her head, and whispers to herself, “What the fuck was that? Were we flirting ?”

—------------------------

For the second consecutive night, Gina finds sleep illusive. For a completely different reason this time, though. This time it has nothing to do with Mack. All of that was taken care of earlier with a text that consisted of two words: we’re done. Then she blocked his number, and felt peace for a moment. Sure, spring break plans for next week would have to change, or at least there would be one less person there, but she’s happy to have him out of her life.

No, Mack isn’t keeping her awake tonight. It’s Nina. And in a way Gina never would have anticipated before. Not with them.

Was Nina really being nice to her? Flirting with her, even? It sure felt like it. They were mean, as usual, but in a different way? Like an almost playful way? Gina can’t really describe it. And then that comment about how Gina deserves better? And was Gina really flirting back? She thinks so! It’s crazy, honestly. She feels crazy. 

Nina! The worst person Gina knows. Well, second worst, now that Mack revealed himself. But Nina has been Gina’s mortal enemy since they were freshman.

Nina, who stole her shoes before a dance competition. Nina, who once let the air out of Gina’s tires during school. Nina, who makes her life a living hell for no reason.

But Nina, who was kind to her when Mack tried to stab her in the back. Nina who gave her butterflies today when they, for once, weren’t acting like a dickhead. Or at least not a vindictive dickhead, more like a charming dickhead.

It’s all too confusing. But Gina knows someone who knows Nina. She pulls out her phone and texts Ashlyn to see if they’re up, even though it’s after midnight. He is and agrees to come to Gina’s room.

“We are literally siblings and the same age, but somehow I feel like I’m being called to the principal’s office or something,” Ashlyn says as he walks into Gina’s room and closes the door.

Gina is sitting on her bed, her back against the headboard. She half-smiles. “Just say I have an intimidating energy, Ash, it’s okay.”

“Well, you know you do,” Ashlyn responds. “So, am I in trouble, or what are we doing here? We don’t have late night talks.”

“I need to talk to you about your friend. I kind of got a vibe from them today,” Gina says. She’s not one to share her thoughts with others. And if she does, it’s never been Ashlyn who she shares with. But in this very specific instance, her sister may hold the answer.

“What kind of vibe?” Ashlyn asks.

“I don’t know, maybe like they want me?”

Ashlyn laughs. “Jet? Are you sure he wasn’t talking to Kourtney?”

“Not Jet,” Gina says.

Ashlyn’s face clouds as they do the math of what Gina is saying. “Nini?” Ashlyn says indignantly. “Just, no. I promise you she doesn’t want you.”

Gina gets angry at first. She’s not sure why. Probably just that Ashlyn didn’t believe her. But it passes pretty quickly.

“Yeah, no, you’re right. It was just a weird interaction, and I was probably in a bad head space because of Mack.”

“What happened with Mack?” Ashlyn asks.

“Oh, we broke up,” Gina says.

Ashlyn’s eyes go wide, almost cartoonishly so. “What? Are you okay?”

He sounds genuinely concerned. Which is pretty sweet actually. But Gina doesn’t have time to think about Mack anymore.

“It’s fine,” Gina says, waving her hand dismissively. “I’m not worried about him.”

“Oh,” Ashlyn says. “But Nini?”

“No, you were right,” Gina says. “Totally just a fluke thing. She wasn’t trying to flirt with me.”

“Wait, what did she say?”

“Don’t worry about it. It’s nothing. Thanks for the talk, Ash.”

Ashlyn looks confused still, but nods his head. “Yeah, any time Gi.”

They turn and leave Gina’s room. And Gina is no closer to having answers about that interaction. But it’s okay. She’ll probably forget about it by tomorrow.

—------------------------

Nini has not forgotten about that weird interaction with Gina the previous day. It was so bizarre. It started like any horrible interaction she’s ever had with that beautiful, entitled princess. Fuck. Entitled princess, not beautiful. Whatever. Nini was being a dick to Gina. It’s what they do best. But it wasn’t in the mean-spirited way she normally talks to Gina? It was something way different. Something Nini didn’t even feel like they could control in the moment.

They consider briefly that they were just sympathetic to Gina because of what she just went through with Mack. That seems just as unlikely as a sudden attraction though.

And then Gina replied in kind! What the fuck was that line about “you wouldn’t want anyone to think you like me?” Of course she doesn't like Gina. Can’t stand her ass. So why did that make Nini feel things? It was probably just because they were high.

“Hey Nini, wait up,” they hear from behind them, shaking them out of that particular spiral. She was really in her own little world walking down the hall for a moment.

Nini turns around and sees Jet running to catch up with her. So she waits.

“Where you been? You didn’t answer my texts last night,” Jet says as he and Nini walk side-by-side.

“Yeah, it was a strange night,” Nini says.

“Strange how?” Jet asks.

And before she can answer (as if she was going to answer honestly) the intercom chimes.

“Will Gina Porter and Nina Salazar-Roberts please report to the main office,” announces Principal Gutierrez.

“Uh, tell you about it later?” Nini says. Jet nods, and Nini starts walking back in the opposite direction, to the office.

When they get to the main office, the receptionist, Mrs. Bonner-Thomas waves Nini back to Principal Gutierrez’s office. They open the door, and Gina is already inside, sitting in a chair across the desk from the principal. Nini wordlessly takes the other chair.

Gutierrez is quiet for a moment before he begins to speak, and in that moment, Nini can’t help but notice how close their chair is to Gina’s. She can’t help but notice how, when she puts her arm on the arm rest, their hand is almost touching Gina’s. She tries to quietly slide the chair over to get further from Gina. To get further from those confusing feelings from earlier.

“Ladies,” the Gutierrez starts, “It was brought to my attention that some troubling things have been going on around the student council campaigns.”

Nini says nothing. Gina does the same.

“I’ve had reports of a dubiously legal telemarketing scheme, bribery, blackmail, and theft of intellectual property. Am I missing anything?”

“I think that about covers it,” Nini says, even as Gina shushes her.

“Frankly, I should remove you both from this race. This is not the behavior I would expect from potential leaders of our student body.”

“You can’t do that!” Gina shouts, standing quickly and putting her hands on the principal’s desk.

“Sit down Miss Porter,” Gutierrez says, just a hint of irritation in his voice. But Gina does as instructed, and the principal composes himself. “I could do that. But in the interest of transparency, Miss Jenn and Mr. Mazzara objected to the idea. They said no one else wanted the position, so unfortunately we’re stuck with you two. But they presented an alternative plan. I spoke to your parents this morning—”

“You called my mom?”

Gina is standing again. And Principal Gutierrez is not happy about it.

“Sit. Down.” Again, Gina follows his instruction. “Now, as I was saying, I’ve spoken with both of your parents, and they agreed to Miss Jenn’s plan, so next week, the two of you will spend your spring break at a teambuilding wilderness retreat to teach you to get along.”

“We’re not a team,” Nini and Gina both say, almost perfectly in unison. They look at one another, and almost smile. Nini also almost feels her breakfast coming back up, too.

“Very astute, ladies,” Principal Gutierrez says dryly. “But if you two cannot get along well enough to conduct your campaigns in a civil way, then no matter what Jenn and Mazzara want, I will have no choice but to disqualify you from this race.”

“Fine,” Gina says, crossing her arms over her chest.

It takes Nini a moment more before she adds, “Yeah, okay, whatever.”

“Good. Miss Jenn has volunteered to drive you there. She will pick you both up at your homes around 5 PM today.”

“I can drive myself,” Gina says.

“No, you can’t,” Gutierrez says. “Now please report to class. Mrs. Bonner-Thomas will give you an excuse.”

—------------------------

It’s a four hour ride to the campsite. Four hours of actual hell. And if there’s one thing about Nini, if they’re going to be in hell, they will make sure everyone around them feels that hell, too.

Miss Jenn is at Nini’s house at 5:15 PM, and when Nini walks to the car, she sees Gina sitting in the backseat. They throw their bag in the trunk of the car and open the passenger door.

“Sorry, Nina,” Miss Jenn says in that far too happy, sing-song way she has of speaking. “This trip is about you and Gina getting along, so you’ll be sitting in the back with her.”

Nini looks stricken. She has to sit inches away from Gina? For hours? It’s a fate worse than death. And not just because of the confusing feelings she has lately any time they’re close to Gina.

Ten minutes into the ride—which until this point has been completely silent, minus the showtunes Miss Jenn is playing (and singing along to)—Nini decides to start an argument.

“You know, we wouldn’t have to do this if you hadn’t pulled that shit with stealing my talking points for the debate,” Nini says, staring holes into the back of Gina’s head as the other girl looks out the window.

“Language, Nina, dear,” Miss Jenn chirps from the driver’s seat.

“Still true, though,” Nini grouses.

A moment passes before Gina responds. “Hmm, you’re probably right. If I hadn’t sunk to your level, you probably would have been removed from the ballot when you got caught doing what you did, and I would now be running unopposed, and packing for the Spring Break trip I had planned in Turks and Caicos. What’s the old idiom about lying down with dogs?”

“Yeah, well,” Nini is grasping for something to say back. “Well maybe it’s good we have to go then, so you have to cancel your stupid rich girl trip.”

It’s weak. Nini knows that. But they suddenly can’t seem to piss Gina off, and that makes Nini seethe.

“So, you’re having fun? Glad we’re having to go to the middle of nowhere so we can learn to play nice?”

“No!” Nini says. “Fuck!”

“Nina, language,” Miss Jenn repeats with a little more force this time.

Nini slams her back against the seat and crosses her arms over their chest. Gina looks over at them and rolls her eyes. That draws a smirk from Nini. It’s good that she’s pissing Gina off again. Their friendly-ish, flirty-ish interactions were disgusting. Her eyes linger on Gina just a little too long, and they snap their gaze away when they realize they’re staring.

“I need to stop for the restroom,” Nini announces. She really just needs to be out of the car.

“We’ve only been on the road for half an hour,” Miss Jenn says, looking up at Nini in the rearview of her Prius.

“Small bladder, drank a bunch of water before I left home, nervous rider,” Nini drolls.

Miss Jenn heaves out a frustrated sigh, but moves over in the right lane to exit the highway.

They’re able to compose herself in the bathroom of the Flying J. All it takes is staring into her own eyes in the dirty mirror, and firmly reminding herself how much they hate Gina. Then taking a deep breath, and letting it out, punching a dent in the aluminum paper towel dispenser, buying an ice cream sandwich to hold against their stinging knuckles, and she’s completely composed.

Nini climbs back into the car holding the treat against their hand.

“What happened to your hand?” Gina asks. And Nini can’t tell how she meant it. Concerned? Mocking? General curiosity? Not that they care what Gina meant.

“Don’t worry about it,” Nini mumbles.

After that, Nini is able to ride in silence. They don’t think about Gina. They only think about their aching hand. Mostly.

Finally they arrive at the campsite at almost 11 PM. Miss Jenn helps them get their bags out of her trunk, and Nini hears footsteps approaching. She is exhausted, and not prepared at all for the peppy retreat employee who greets them.

“Well there’s our late arrivals!” says the pretty blonde girl, who doesn’t look much older than a teenager herself. She checks something on her clipboard  “I’m Val. I’ll be one of your event leaders for the week. Your names are Nina and Gina? How cute, you two rhyme!”

“You can call me Nini,” Nini says quickly. They do not want to go through a whole week with people thinking she’s “cute” with Gina.

“Not a problem,” Val says, still not losing any of her exuberance. She scribbles something down on her clipboard.

“It’s fine if you call me Gina,” Gina adds.

Val nods and says, “Follow me.”

And she leads them to their cabin.

—------------------------

There’s not much to the cabin. Val admitted as much when Gina voiced her concerns upon arrival. It’s just two beds, less than three feet apart and separated by a small nightstand, poor lighting, and exposed wood everywhere.

“But you’ll mostly just be sleeping here. Every other activity, you’ll do outside the cabin,” Val had said.

And Val was right. It turns out every activity happens outside the cabin. Including when Gina wakes up at 3 AM needing to pee, and has to use the flashlight on her phone to stumble out of the cabin, and make her way to the shower and restroom building about 50 yards away.

Gina considers on the short walk there that Nina may have had a point in how much they protested having to go on this little trip. It would have been nice if Nina could have made her concerns known without acting like a child, but they still had a point.

She makes it to and from the restroom, without falling down or getting eaten by a mountain lion, so she considers that a win.

Her brief moment of victory is washed away, though, when she returns to the cabin and finds the door locked. She pulls it hard a couple of times just to make sure it’s not just stuck, but no. Definitely locked from the inside.

Gina lets out a frustrated breath, and looks over at the river, which she can see from the front stoop of the cabin. She considers for a moment how easy it would be to drown Nina in the river, before she starts shouting.

“Nina, open the door!” she yells as she bangs on the door.

No answer. A cold breeze sweeps by, and cuts right through the light sweater Gina put on to go to the restroom. She shivers.

“Open the fucking door, asshole!” Gina shouts even louder, slamming her fist against the wooden door once more for good measure.

Still nothing.

“Locked yourself out, huh?” says a sleepy voice behind Gina.

She turns and sees Val, wrapped in a blanket. The young woman looks tired, but is still smiling.

“Yeah. Locked myself out,” Gina says dryly. “Locked myself out of the door that locks from the inside.”

“Shocking how often that happens,” Val says. “Here, let me show you a trick.”

Val produces a wire clothes hanger from under her blanket. She slides it in the crease of the door, and in a quick motion, slides it up. Gina hears the latch on the other side pop up, and then the door opens with no problem.

“Good to know,” Gina says. “You know, in case I lock myself out again.”

Val gives her a wry smile before turning to walk away.

“Get some rest, I’ll see you in a few hours,” the camp worker says over her shoulder as she walks away.

Gina closes the door behind herself and walks back over to her bed.

“What happened to you?” Nina says from her bed. And with the moonlight filtering in through the window, Gina can just make out the smirk on their face.

“Fuck you, asshole.”

“Language, Gina,” Nini says, clearly doing a terrible impression of Miss Jenn.

—------------------------

Breakfast on the first morning consists of runny eggs, cold toast, overcooked turkey bacon, fresh fruit that is far more fruit than fresh, and the worst coffee Gina has ever put in her body. No one told Gina how much her parents paid for this little excursion, but clearly none of that money went to having satisfactory meals.

After choking down the less than pleasant offerings, Val and a few other retreat employees lead the group of about 30 people—some other pairs, and some groups of three or four— to a dock. There are a number of canoes there, of varying size.

One of the workers—Gina thinks he said his name is Dewey—passes out life vests to everyone, as Val explains that there is a canoe to fit every group, and they will have to work together to take the boat to the far bank of the river, and back.

“No,” Nina says as they’re handed a vest. “Not doing this.”

Gina turns to her partner for the week. “What do you mean you’re not doing it?”

“Not getting in the water. Just no,” Nina says.

“No, you’re getting in a canoe. If you’re in the water, we did something wrong.”

“Well, what about when the canoe flips over and then we’re in the open water, and what if there are sharks or crocodiles or something in there?” Nina says, and it sounds ridiculous, but they sound and look genuinely afraid.

“I don’t think we have to worry about sharks and crocodiles on the Green River,” Gina says, realizing that she’s the one who is smirking now.

“But do you know ?” Nina says, holding the life vest she was given tightly against her chest and slowly starting to back away.

Finally, with a combination of Val and Dewey encouraging Nina, and Gina telling Nina what a baby she’s being, they manage to get them in the canoe.

Gina sees the other groups reach the far bank and start to head back to dock, meanwhile Gina and Nina have managed to make it not even halfway out onto the water.

“You have to row at the same time I row,” Gina instructs for what seems like the hundredth time.

Nina tries to do that.

“No, on the opposite side as me. If you row on the same side it’s going to make us turn.”

“This is too hard,” Nina groans.

“Wasn’t too hard for anyone else,” Gina says under her breath. “Here, give me your oar. I’ll do it myself.”

“I can do it!” Nina says.

They can’t, Gina quickly observes. Because they’re still spinning around in circles.

“Just give me the damn paddle!” Gina shouts. “I’m getting dizzy and we’re not going anywhere.”

“No!” Nina responds. And then she throws her oar out into the water. Gina wants to choke her.

“Why did you do that?”

“Now you can’t ask me for it anymore,” Nina replies.

Gina groans and rolls her eyes. She stands up and takes her vest off, preparing to swim for the paddle. The canoe rocks a little, and Nina’s eyes go wide. They white-knuckle grip both sides of the boat.

“What are you doing?” Nina asks, a tremble in her voice.

“Going to get the oar that your dumb ass threw,” Gina says.

The boat tilts again.

“Stop! Sit down!” Nina pleads.

Gins sighs, but does as Nina asked. She puts her life vest back on, and uses her single paddle to turn the boat, and slowly make it over to the one Nina threw. Fortunately the river current isn’t very strong, and it didn’t float too far downstream.

Using both paddles, Gina is able to get them across the river, and back with great effort. But they finish last. Gina hates finishing last.

She hates it even worse when Val says, “Good try, you two, but the team who finishes last is on clean up duty for the next meal.”

There are so many things Gina wants to say to Nina then. But she doesn’t. She just stomps away.

—------------------------

Yeah, cleaning up after everyone sucks, but Nini has to give it its due. At least this activity is happening on dry land.

Gina has asked her a few times why she acted like that on the boat. Nini has mostly ignored her. It’s too humiliating to admit to anyone, much less their mortal enemy.

But as Gina grabs the last of the compostable paper plates and shoves it into a bag, she finally gets Nini to break.

“Seriously Nina, we’re probably going to have more activities on the water. This whole camp isn’t on the banks of a river by accident. So tell me what’s wrong. Why did it get to you like that?”

“Fine,” Nini says. She’s sick of Gina’s questions. “I’m terrified of the water, and I can’t swim. There, happy?”

“You can’t swim?” Gina asks. And Nini can’t detect any mockery in her tone, but they know it’s probably there.

“No, I can’t swim. I’ve never been in a canoe. I don’t have rich parents that took me to our lake house for summers. Is that enough? Anything else you want to embarrass me about?”

“Hmm,” Gina intones. “Yeah, we have to do something about that.”

“I think I can fake sick and maybe they’ll send us home?” Nini suggests. She’s pretty good at faking sick. In elementary school, before she could just skip school whenever she wanted, they got really good at playing sick so their lola would come pick them up.

“No, we’re going to fix you,” Gina says. “Come with me.”

Nini’s not sure why. Maybe they’re tired from the lack of sleep last night at the terror of the boating experience, but they follow Gina.

Gina leads them back to the dock. All the way to the end of the dock.

“I’m not getting back in a boat,” Nini says.

“No, you’re not,” Gina says.

“Then what are we doing?” Nini asks.

“It’s crazy that you don’t know how to swim,” Gina says. “And the only way I know to teach you is how I learned, so…”

Without another word, Gina pushes her. Hard. Nini stumbles and falls backwards. Her body hits the water hard with a splash. And she nearly blacks out from fear.

—------------------------

Nina is flailing around and nearly hyperventilating in the water, so Gina strips her shirt off, having swimwear on underneath, and jumps in after them.

“Help,” Nina shouts. “Someone, Gina, help me, I’m drowning. Help!”

Gina wades over to Nini, and grabs them by their shoulders to steady them.

“Nina! Breathe. It’s so shallow here. You can stand up. Look.”

Nina starts to still. Their breathing starts to slow down a little. They look at Gina, and then look down. They finally settle.

Gina realizes then that she’s still holding Nina’s shoulders. And, Nina is more solid than Gina realizes. She’s soft, too. Like solid and soft, and it’s weird. This is weird. Has she ever touched Nina like this before? Has she even gotten close enough to touch Nina like this before? She doesn’t think so. And it makes her feel things. Gina clears her throat.

“Anyway, let’s wade out a little further, and we’ll work on floating. And swimming. Just enough so you won’t drown.”

Nina looks at her apprehensively.

“Come on,” Gina says, holding her hand out to Nina. “I won’t let anything happen to you, I promise.”

“Dude, I’m not holding your hand,” Nina says, crossing her arms over their chest.

Gina rolls her eyes. “Come on, loser. Or are you just going to keep being a little bitch baby the rest of the trip.”

“I’m not a—”

“Then come on,” Gina repeats, holding her hand out again.

Nina doesn’t look completely sold, but reluctantly takes Gina’s hand.

Even in the cold river water, Nina’s hand is somehow warm. And it fits perfectly with Gina’s. And that makes Gina, well, Gina doesn’t want to think about it.

They wade out another twenty feet or so, and Gina can feel the riverbed start to slant away. She has to stand on her tiptoes to keep her entire head above water, so she knows it will be over the shorter girl’s head. She gives Nini a firm tug, and sends them floating out over the deeper water. But she doesn’t let go of their hand.

Nina tenses for a moment, but then settles as her body floats in the river.

“Now, lie on your back, and hold your arms and legs out,” Gina instructs.

“I’ll sink!” Nini cries.

“No you won’t. I got you. I told you I won’t let anything happen to you.”

Somewhat to Gina’s surprise, Nina listens, and does as she was told. They start to sag after a moment, and Gina slips an arm underneath them to support them. And Nina relaxes, and just floats.

Gina realizes she’s holding Nina. And that Nina relaxed because Gina is holding her. And it feels way too intimate. But Gina made a promise, and she always keeps her promises. So she tries to put these odd feelings aside, tries not to think about how close they are right now, how it feels with their skin against her own, and focuses on giving Nina more instructions.

After about half an hour in the water, no one would mistake Nina for Katie Ledecky, but Gina has taught them enough that they won’t die if they find themselves in a body of water. And that’s enough for now.

The two girls wade back over to the dock. Gina manages to pull herself up, and then extends a hand to Nina to help her climb onto the dock, too. There’s a bin of dry towels by the landside of the dock, and Gina grabs one for herself, and one for Nina.

“Thank you,” she hears Nina say in a low voice.

“Just a towel, Nina, you don’t have to thank me.”

“No, thank you for teaching me. I—”

“Don’t mention it,” Gina says, cutting them off. She figures she’ll save Nina one more time. This time from having to say something too sentimental.

“Still,” Nina says. “Thank you. And you can call me Nini.”

Gina raises an eyebrow. “I seem to remember a conversation freshman year when you explicitly told me I couldn’t call you Nini. Because only your friends call you Nini, and I would never be your friend. Am I misremembering?”

Nini sighs. “You can call me Nini,” they repeat.

Gina decides not to push it anymore, and nods her head. “Okay, I’ll do that, Nini.”

—------------------------

After they make peace with one another, and after Nini makes a little bit of peace with the water, things start to get better. They work better and better as a team with each new activity they have to do. But it’s not because they get along! Nini swears it’s not. It’s just, they hate having to clean up after others, so she doesn’t want to finish last anymore.

The third night of the retreat, there’s a bonfire that everyone is required to attend. Nini and Gina sit beside one another on a log bench, and listen to one of the other campers tell a lame ghost story. And she only ate three roasted marshmallows, and it shouldn’t happen so quickly, but Nini feels like she’s hitting a sugar crash.

Their eyes feel heavy, and before they know it, they feel their head fall to the side, and land on something solid. And yes, she knows it’s Gina’s shoulder, but they’re too sleepy to worry about that or even think about it at the moment. But Gina sure is comfortable. And the way Gina wraps an arm around their waist to hold them steady is also kind of comfortable.

The next day, the last activity is another hike along the river. This isn’t a competitive activity, Val tells them, and encourages everyone to take time to observe and appreciate nature as they go.

Nini and Gina end up separated from the rest of the group. Everyone kind of finds their own way which is nice. And when Gina offers Nini a hand to help them climb over a rock, Nini doesn’t let that hand go for the rest of the hike. They try not to think about it too much.

—------------------------

Nini doesn’t let go of her hand the entire hike. It’s at once something Gina is hyper aware of, and that she tries her best not to think about.

When they return to their cabin, Nini finally puts Gina’s hand down. It’s quiet then. Awkwardly so. Nini is just kind of standing in the corner, rubbing her neck while Gina changes out of her hiking shoes and into some slides.

“What are you—”

“Can I ask—”

They say at the same time. And then both laugh awkwardly.

“You go first,” Nini says. Which is very strange, to Gina. Nini has never been the type to defer to anyone, least of all Gina. And it makes Gina want to hear what they have to say even more.

“No, you can go.”

Nini wastes no time. Their words come out so fast Gina has to focus to keep up.

“So, the past couple of days have been, not weird, but like, I have been feeling some things, and I don’t know if it’s just me, or if I’m just in a weird mood, because if you’re not feeling it, then it’s fine, but? But if you are, I was wondering if, and feel free to say no!”

“Say no to what?” Gina asks.

“Okay, so don’t make fun of me! But I’ve never done this before. I mean, I’ve wanted to. Or I’ve thought about it. Not with you! But in general. And—”

“Just say it,” Gina says.

“Can I kiss you?” Nini blurts out.

Gina’s head swims. Nini’s never kissed anyone? And wants Gina to be their first kiss? Of all people? And Nini sounding so sincere, and revealing something so personal. But also it’s Nina who Gina has hated for years. But it’s also Nini who has been, well, something else to her for a few days. It’s a lot to process. But also, Gina can see Nini is waiting for an answer. Gina doesn’t know what to say. But she knows what she wants to do.

Gina walks over to Nini, and even as the shorter girl starts to shrink away, Gina reaches out and crooks a finger under their chin, gently lifting their face to meet hers. And in that moment, Nini is more vulnerable than Gina has ever seen her. She looks nervous, scared even, but hopeful, and wanting .

Gina hasn’t felt wanted in a long time. Not in that way. She doesn’t know if she ever felt it with Mack. Mack was just kind of there. Convenient. And Gina realizes she never wanted him that much, either.

But Nini? Gina wants this, wants them , too.

She leans down, gently pressing her lips against Nini’s. And when Nini wraps her arms around Gina’s neck, and kisses her back, Gina pushes her against the wall, and deepens the kiss. There’s a sound of an explosion outside. Fireworks. Gina forgot those were happening. But she doesn’t need to see them. She has all the fireworks she needs right here. With Nini.

When they finally come up for air, Gina rests her forehead against Nini’s. They’re both out of breath. But there’s an important matter Gina knows needs to be discussed.

“No one can know this happened,” she almost whispers.

“You think I want anyone to know?” Nini responds around her labored breathing. “I won’t even tell my lola, and I tell her everything.”

Gina nods, satisfied with the confirmation.

“But while we’re still here, we can keep doing it, right?” Nini asked.

Gina pulls back and looks at Nini like they’re crazy. “Fucking of course. I thought that was implied.”

And she kisses Nini again.

—------------------------

The last two days of the retreat go by in a blurr. They go by way too fast, for Nini. She never would’ve thought she would think that a week ago, but now? It’s officially been the best spring break they’ve ever had. Way better than what they were planning to do, which was get high and watch movies with Jet.

Not that she doesn’t still enjoy those things! But Gina! Gina is kind of everything, and Nini is sad that it’s ending.

The two girls stand side-by-side at the main entrance waiting for Miss Jenn to come pick them up. They’re not touching. Wouldn’t dare to touch, lest Miss Jenn see them, and someone from back home knows what happened here this week. But they’re certainly standing a lot closer to one another than they would have voluntarily before the retreat.

Both Nini and Gina get a text at the same time. They look at their phones. It’s Miss Jenn apologizing for running late, and saying she’ll be there in about ten minutes. They look at each other then.

“So,” Nini says.

“So,” Gina echos.

“We have a little bit of time,” Nini adds. Gina nods. “Should we get one more for the road? Before we have to go back to the real world?”

“I don’t think we have a choice,” Gina says, shrugging.

Not wasting a second, Nini stands on their tiptoes, and presses their lips against Gina’s. God, she’s going to miss this.

When Miss Jenn arrives, Mr. Mazzara is with her. He helps the girls put their bags in the trunk, and Nini can’t help but notice almost immediately a weird chemistry between the two adults. Like they have something going on. But Nini can’t really think about that right now. She had her own thing the past week. With Gina. And now it’s ending, and they’re kind of sad about that. But if nothing else, it will be a happy memory.

—------------------------

Once Gina is dropped off at her house on Saturday afternoon, she spends the rest of that day, and most of Sunday trying to put Nini out of her head. Trying to forget what they were to one another, for a few days.

High school has a social hierarchy, and Gina and Nini are just not on the same level. It would be ruinous for Gina if everyone found out that she had a fling with that loser. That miscreant.

Her mom wouldn’t approve, either. Not that she thinks her mom would have a problem with Gina dating a girl. When Gina came out to her mom as bi when she was twelve, Terri hugged her, and told her she loved and supported her. But this girl? From the wrong side of the socioeconomic tracks? With a history of getting in trouble? Who seems to be going nowhere with her life? Yeah, Gina knows her mom would not take that so well.

But as Sunday evening wears on, and the dark of night comes, Gina starts to realize she doesn’t care. Or at least, she wants to try to find a way to make it work, if only for a little while longer. She wonders if Nini would be up for that, too? Somehow, she thinks they would be. But there’s a problem. As close as they were over the past week, Gina never got Nini’s number, and this is definitely not a conversation that needs to be had at school. She tries to go through Nini's socials, but clearly her former rival has yet to unblock her on any platform. Fortunately, Gina knows someone who can help her solve this small problem.

She pads over to Ashlyn’s bedroom. The door is closed, so Gina knocks. She hears giggling on the other side. Maddox is here. Gina sighs and rolls her eyes before knocking again, harder.

“Come in,” she hears Ashlyn shout. She also hears things being shuffled around, but Gina doesn’t want to think about what may have been going on between her sister and her best friend behind that door.

Giving them a second to get themselves together, Gina finally opens the door. Ashlyn and Maddox sit on far opposite sides of Ashlyn’s bed, trying to look nonchalant. But the flush of their cheeks tells a different story. Gina will let them have this one. She has more important matters to discuss, anyway.

“I’ll be quick,” Gina says, taking a couple of steps into the room. “Ashlyn, can you give me Nini’s number?”

“Nini?” Ashlyn asks. And it’s just then that Gina realizes she slipped and used her former rival’s nickname instead of her proper given name.

“Oh, um, yeah, you know we had to do a lot together the past week, and I just got used to calling them that. No big deal. I meant Nina,” Gina explains. But she can’t quite meet Ashlyn’s eyes as she delivers the lie.

“Uh huh,” Ashlyn says. They sound skeptical. Gina glances up, and her sister looks skeptical, too. Fortunately, he doesn’t push it. “I’ll send you their contact.”

“Thanks,” Gina says. “I’ll leave you two to it,” she adds, raising her eyebrows. Ashlyn and Maddox both blush. Gina is happy for them.

—------------------------

There’s a part of Nini—the part that’s a dick to pretty much everyone outside of her inner circle and her grandmother and sometimes her moms—that wants to be smug when they get the text from Gina. Or “Maybe Gina Porter” according to their phone. There’s a small part of Nini who wants to leave her on read and make her doubt whether Nini would be down to meet before school the next day. In Gina’s car in the parking lot.

But there’s another part of her, a much bigger and newer part, who doesn’t want to risk Gina changing her mind. So they text Gina back almost immediately confirming the plans.

That’s how Nini ends up hanging around in the shadow of a school bus on the edge of the parking lot, waiting for Gina’s text.

“Hey, why are you just standing here? And why didn’t you text me when you got back from your retreat thing? Was it awful?” Jet asks. And while the questions come rapid fire, they’re still delivered in the cool, I-don’t-give-a-fuck way Jet has of communicating.

Nini turns to see their friend, and comes up with the first excuse they can think of. “Trying to decide if I want to ditch,” she says.

“Oh,” Jet says, dragging that syllable out. “I would, but Hoffman said if I miss her class again, she’ll write me up.”

“She’ll write you up over a photography class?” Nini asks, raising an eyebrow. Sounds pretty severe for a class that is basically a hobby.

Jet shrugs. “She takes that shit seriously,” he explains.

“Uh huh,” Nini says. “Isn’t Kourtney the student assistant in that class?”

Jet blushes and looks down. “Oh yeah, I honestly forgot about that over the break.”

Nini stifles a laugh even as Gina’s all-clear text comes through on their phone. Teasing Jet will have to wait for later. “Well, you better go before you’re late.”

Jet gives her a silly salute and hustles off to class. Nini waits until they’re out of sight before slinking her way as inconspicuously, but as quickly as she can to Gina’s car. Fortunately they’ve carried out enough pranks defacing that car to know exactly which one it is.

Nini climbs into the passenger seat and closes the door as fast as she can, not wanting to waste a second.

“Sorry I’m late,” they say. “Jet found me and wouldn’t shut up.”

Gina leans across the center console, pulling the collar of Nini’s shirt so she can kiss her. Nini melts into the kiss for a moment before pulling back.

“But don’t worry, I’m dumping him and getting a new friend tomorrow. One who doesn’t get in the way of this. Maybe a friend who can’t talk at all.”

“Shut the fuck up,” Gina groans. “More kissing.”

And so they do.

—------------------------

Gina never saw this coming. Had no intention of this happening. But she just can’t get enough of Nini. She spends almost every waking second she has not with Nini trying to think of a way she can see Nini again.

They meet in Gina’s car, in the music room, on the roof of the school, and once at Nini’s spot under the bleachers. But when Jet almost catches them there, Gina decides they need a more secure location for their meetups.

She finds it.

There’s a vacant supply closet on the basement level of the school. The drama club stores props in there that take up too much space in the wardrobe room, but this season’s production of Our Town doesn’t require the extra storage, so it’s empty. And taking the key from Miss Jenn proves very easy.

Stealing things , Gina thinks. Nini must be rubbing off on me.

And the thought of Nini rubbing off on her gives her all sorts of other thoughts. So she texts Nini and makes her way to the closet to wait.

The empty closet serves as a lovenest of sorts for them for a couple of days. It’s a place where they can just be together. No worries about getting caught. No pressure from their peers or parents about who they’re supposed to be. They can just be Gina and Nini in there. Just two girls who are really into one another.

So it surprises Gina on that Friday when Nini pulls back when Gina tries to lean in and kiss them. Shocks her, actually.

“What’s up?” Gina asks.

Nini takes a deep breath and lets it out, but can’t look Gina in the eye. “Can we talk?”

A chill runs through Gina.

“Talk, like, what, you don’t want to do this anymore?”

“What?” Nini sputters out. “No! I mean, unless you don’t want to. Like if you’re done with me—”

“I’m not,” Gina says quickly. She doesn’t want Nini to get the wrong idea. It just scared her when it sounded like they might be dumping her. “What do you want to talk about?”

“A lot of stuff, actually,” Nini says. “Not that I don’t enjoy what we usually do here. But we don’t really talk. And I want to talk to you, too.”

Gina nods. Makes sense. She can admit to herself that she’s gotten a little lost in the passion of it all. But Nini is more than a set of lips. Those lips are amazing though.

“Anything in particular?” Gina asks before she gets too distracted thinking about Nini’s lips.

“I don’t know,” Nini says, and sounds a little dejected. But clearly something is weighing on them.

“Hey,” Gina says, cradling Nini’s chin in her hand and rubbing a thumb over their cheek. “Talk to me. What’s on your mind?”

Nini looks up at Gina then. “So, we haven’t discussed it, but the election is a week from today.”

Gina nods, and reality starts to seep in a little. “That’s true,” she says.

“And I don’t want it to come between us, but I need you to know that I don’t intend to drop out, or just let you win.”

“That’s fair,” Gina says. “Can I ask you something, though?”

“Of course.”

“Why are you even running? I mean, I’m not saying you shouldn’t! But this isn’t something that really, I don’t know, fits with what you normally do.”

“Is making out with borderline juvenile delinquents something you normally do?” Nini shoots back.

Gina chuckles. “Fair. But really, what makes you want to keep going with this? I thought, originally, that you were just doing this to piss me off.”

That draws a laugh from Nini. “Well, you’re not wrong. That’s why I did it in the beginning.”

“And now?”

Nini lets out a frustrated breath and turns their back. “I don’t know how to explain it, and I don’t want you to make fun of me.”

“I won’t,” Gina says. She grabs Nini’s shoulders and turns them around. “I promise. I got you. Tell me why.”

Nini takes another moment before they start talking. “Okay, so, yeah, I entered the race because I wanted to make you mad, but once I started doing it, when I really thought about actually running, and maybe winning, and all of the good things I could do. When I thought about how I could make a difference, it felt kinda, I don’t know, good?”

Gina nods. “That makes sense. It’s not strange to want to do something that matters.”

“But it is for me!” Nini exclaims. “I don’t usually try to do anything like this, because it hurts when I fail, or when I get rejected. And I’m worried about feeling that rejection this time, yeah, but also I just care more about what will happen if I succeed. And this has given me a purpose. And maybe a direction? I don’t know, but maybe this could be what I do with my life. I look around, and I think about the things I care about—the things I really care about: women’s rights, lgbtq+ rights, immigrants’ rights, protecting the working class and giving them a voice, and all of those things are tied into politics. And I can’t change any of that really as a student council president, but what if this is the first step in a new direction, and I could do something to help with those things one day?”

That’s a lot, and Gina takes a moment to process everything Nini said. But it’s pretty easy. It boils down to one thing.

“You care,” Gina says. “You’re not used to that, huh?”

Nini shakes their head.

“Well you should. It’s a good look on you.”

“Yeah?” Nini asks with a smirk.

“Don’t get cocky,” Gina scolds.

“Oh?” Nini asks. “Is that not a good look on me, too?”

It is. It’s actually really hot, now that Gina doesn’t hate their guts. But Nini doesn’t need to know that. So instead Gina says, “Is that enough talking now? Can you kiss me finally?”

Nini does.

As their lunch break ends, and the girls stumble out of the closet, still buzzing on the euphoria of one another, they don’t notice the shadowy figure standing underneath the stairs. They don’t realize that Mack saw them go into the closet together. That he made an audio recording of their conversation. That he recorded a video of them walking out together, hand-in-hand.

They don’t realize that everything is about to change.

—------------------------

Nini still isn’t accustomed to getting to school early. For most of their high school career, they were more likely to not show up at all than to show up before she had to. But now? When she knows Gina will be there waiting for her? It’s all Nini can do not to just sleep in their closet so they’ll be there when Gina arrives.

She makes it almost to the stairs leading to the basement when they get a text. It’s Gina.

GP: don’t go to the closet!
NSR: okay???

Well that’s disappointing. Then another text comes. This one in the group chat with Jet and Ashlyn, which has been dormant for weeks now.

JP: dude why didn’t you tell me?
AC: seriously! i know we haven’t been talking much but you couldn’t mention that you pulled my sister?

Nini blanches, and shoots back a reply.

NSR: how tf do you know that?:?:?:?:?:?
JP: neens fucking everyone knows
AC: someone leaked a video of y’all coming out of that closet in the basement holding hands

Nini doesn’t have time to respond, or even process what they just learned before another text comes through. This one from Miss Jenn. It’s much more to the point.

MJ: My office. NOW!

If Nini was scared before, now she’s terrified. And so angry that someone was spying on them. But there’s nothing for it. They slide their phone into their pocket and start the death march to a meeting with Miss Jenn.

—------------------------

Gina wakes up on Monday morning to a text from the drama club’s stage manager Natalie Bagley. It’s just a link. When Gina clicks on it, it takes her to a video. The lighting is shit, but she can tell right away that it’s the basement at East High. After a moment, the door to a closet— the closet opens, and Gina and Nini step out, holding hands and looking at one another with dopey looks on their faces.

GP: wtf natalie? were u spying on us???
NB: not me, that got sent to half the kids at school this morning and the caption says there’s audio dropping later today

Gina wants to scream. Or throw her phone. Or both. But she realizes none of that will help. So she gets up and starts her day even earlier than normal.

She meets Miss Jenn and Mr. Mazzara in the staff parking lot, and is polite enough not to say anything about them riding in together. Maybe another time she would have, but there are much bigger issues at play.

She tells them that something big has happened, and asks to speak to them inside. They take her to Miss Jenn’s office, and Gina lays it all out. After showing them what had been released, she waits patiently for them to yell at her. But they don’t.

“Do you know who did this?” Miss Jenn asks.

Gina shrugs. “I have an idea, but I don't have any evidence, and I would really just be speculating.”

“Speculation won’t help,” Mazzara says. “Obviously if you find anything out, let us know. But we can only do something about it if we have facts.”

She nods. “So now what? Are we going to be kicked out of the race? Written up?”

Gina knows she sounds defeated. She feels it. Never in a million years did she think someone would spy on her and Nini like that. They were so careful. Or so she thought.

“Of course not,” Miss Jenn says quickly.

“Well, we can’t promise anything,” Mr. Mazzara amends. “We really should speak about it in private. Can you step out into the hall and give us a moment?”

Wordlessly, Gina nods and gets up to leave.

As she’s waiting in the hall, she starts to think of Nini. Have they seen the video? Do they know that everyone knows? If so, how did they react? Are they scared? Mad?

Then another thought occurs to Gina. What if Nini doesn’t know yet? She looks at her watch and realizes it’s almost time for them to meet in their usual spot. Pulling out her phone, she shoots off a quick text to Nini to tell her not to go. A moment later, Mazzara asks Gina to come back into the office.

The teachers explain that they’ve asked Nini to join them, too, as they should both be in the room for the conversation. So Gina does her best to wait patiently.

Nini slinks into the room looking like they were run over by a bus. Gina understands.

As Nini walks towards the couch to take a seat beside her, Gina mouths, “ I didn’t know .”

Nini gives her a wry smile before mouthing back, “ I know .”

“Thank you both for joining us,” Miss Jenn says.

“We wish it could be under better circumstances,” Mr. Mazzara adds. “But thank you, Gina for bringing this to our attention so we could address it before it becomes a bigger issue that’s out of our control.”

“You’re welcome,” Gina mumbles.

“After discussing it,” Miss Jenn continues, “we’re not going to make you both drop out of the race.”

Gina and Nini look up in surprise.

“We can keep running our campaigns?” Gina asks.

“Well yes and no,” Miss Jenn says, and it’s clear there’s something she’s not saying. Fortunately Mr. Mazzara has no problem being blunt.

“We’re not going to make both of you suspend your campaigns. But one of you will have to.”

“Guessing that’s me,” Nini says miserably. And Gina hurts so bad for them. It breaks Gina’s heart that Nini thinks everyone thinks so little of her. Breaks it even more to know that, in many cases, she’s right about what people think of her. And that Gina used to be one of those people.

“Not necessarily,” Miss Jenn says. “One of you needs to drop out.”

“After the incident before spring break, we can’t afford any appearance of collusion, or impropriety,” Mazzara says. “But we had a student approach us about entering the race last week. We told him no, obviously, it’s well past the deadline. But now, this may be a simple solution. One of you drops out, he takes your place, and there’s no concern that the two of you were doing anything that wasn’t above board. At least as it relates to this election.”

“I’ll do it,” Nini says glumly. “I’ll drop out. This is really important for Gina, and her college applications and stuff.”

“That’s very noble of you, Nina. We’ll accept your withdrawal,” Miss Jenn says sympathetically.

Gina thinks about the conversation she had with Nini on Friday, when Nini admitted how much this race meant to her. How badly they wanted to win, and how it gave them a purpose. And she knows she can’t be the one to take that away from them.

“No!” Gina nearly shouts.

Every eye in the room turns to her.

“No, absolutely not. Nini’s not dropping out, I am. This matters to her.”

“Gina!” Nini says angrily. “No, I’m nobody, this matters for you. You need it so you can get into Yale or whatever.”

Gina starts to get angry, then. It’s bad enough that a lot of people don’t think enough of Nini, but she’s not going to let Nini not think enough of herself.

“Fuck Yale,” Gina says. “If they don’t like my already ridiculous resume enough to admit me, then they can go fuck themselves. This election is important to you. Which means it’s important for me that this is yours.”

It must be something in the tone of her voice, but neither of the teachers reprimands Gina for swearing.

“Are you sure?” Nini asks, and she sounds so small. Gina just wants to protect them.

“I’m sure,” Gina says, taking Nini’s hands in hers.

“Okay, that’s fine. Either one of you would’ve worked,” Mazzara says in that almost robotic way he has of not seeming to care about anything emotional. “That’s all. You can go.”

“I can’t believe you did that!” Nini says as they leave the office. “Why did you give it up for me?”

Gina’s not ready to open that particular can of worms just yet. So she just says something that is objectively true.

“Because you deserve it.”

“Oh. Well, thank you,” Nini replies.

Something occurs to Gina then, and she laughs.

“What?” Nini asks.

“My mom is gonna be pissed ,” she says. “So, you better make this worth it and win.”

“That’s the idea,” Nini says.

“So seeing as I am no longer running myself and now have some free time on my hands, do you need someone else to work on your campaign?”

“I thought you were going to say it would give you more time to makeout with me,” Nini says. It makes Gina giggle into her hand. “But yes, obviously I would love to have your help.”

“Good,” Gina says. “Because if I’m right about who you’re running against now, I really want to kick his ass.” A pause. “But believe me, we will also make time for the other thing, too.”

Gina throws an arm around Nini as they walk down the hall. No need to be secretive about anything anymore.

—------------------------

The morning announcements confirm what Gina suspected. Mack will be Nini’s opponent for the election.

She also knows in her heart that he’s the one who spread that video. But there’s nothing she can do to prove it. She knows Mack, and he’s the sneakiest, slimiest person she’s ever met. And when he was on her side, she looked the other way. But she knows she shouldn’t have. Because there’s no doubt he hurt other people like he’s trying to hurt Gina now. And also, was he ever really on her side?

But no matter how much Mack sucks, Gina knows beating him won’t be easy. His parents have enough money, and Mack has practically no morals, so he’ll straight up buy votes from some kids. And none of the rich kids (except Gina, Ashlyn, and Kourtney, of course) will vote for Nini. They don’t know her like that, and they’ll be afraid that somehow Mack will find out they voted against them, and do something terrible to them. And to their credit, Gina knows their fears are not without merit.

If Nini is going to win, Gina knows they need a robust campaign staff, a very targeted strategy, and they need to start on it quickly. The election is in less than five days.

So Gina starts a group chat with Ashlyn, Maddox, and Kourtney, and calls it “SALAZAR-ROBERTS CAMPAIGN TEAM.”

GP: we’re meeting in the music room at lunch, be there
AC: i don’t take orders from you
GP: maddox, make sure your girlfriend comes to this meeting
MP: 🫡
GP: also tell ur brother to come i don’t have his number

Gina sends one final text, to Nini, telling her to be at the meeting as well.

—------------------------

It seems like a bad idea, meeting with Gina in private after their—well, whatever it is they have was exposed so publicly. But if she’s honest, Nini doesn’t for a moment consider not showing up when Gina tells her to be in the music room at lunch.

What they do not expect when they arrive is to see Ashlyn and Maddox sitting with Gina.

“So, I’m guessing this is different from our normal meetings?” Nini asks as they walk over to the rest of the group.

Gina has the decency to blush before saying, “Yeah, no, we won’t be doing that today.”

“At all?” Nini whines.

“Well not right now,” Gina concedes. “We’re here to talk campaign strategy. And we needed canvassers.”

“We’re here,” Kourtney announces as she walks in the door, followed closely by Jet. Wait, Kourtney and Jet are coming in together?

Nini, Gina, Maddox, and Ashlyn all look at one another questioningly. And Kourtney seems to pick up on their confusion.

“What, the rest of this incestuous little friend circle can get together, but not us?”

Jet says nothing. He doesn’t have to. The goofy look on their face says everything.

“Since when?” Nini asks. She’s really so happy for Jet. They’ve been down horrendously for Kourtney as long as Nini’s known him.

“Spring break,” Kourtney says. “Maddox and Ashlyn were attached at the hip, and you two were four hours away, kanoodling one another apparently, so…”

The four parties already seated look at one another again, nod, and shrug. Kourtney has a point.

“Can we all talk about that, though?” Ashlyn says. “Can we all celebrate the fact that Nini finally got a girl?”

Nini blushes.

“That’s a good point,” Jet says, finally contributing to the conversation. “And I’m happy, because it was getting kind of sad.”

“Really was,” Ashlyn says. “Nini—no offense—but you went from gets no bitches to pulling the baddest bitch in school. You’ll be a role model for loser lesbians everywhere.”

Nini’s face is burning, and she kind of wishes she could melt into the floor.

Gina saves them by clearing her throat. “Let’s maybe save that conversation for another time,” she says. “I’m sure my—Nini will be glad to tell you all about it later. But we have to focus on the plan.”

—------------------------

Gina has a plan. And Nini’s glad, because honestly, since the debate disaster, they’ve had no idea where to go with their strategy. But Gina assures her that their original talking points, the things she wanted to say at the debate were good.

“But you went one by one for all of my policy ideas and said they were shit,” Nini points out.

“Well, yeah, and I said it confidently, so everyone just bought it. We just have to be just as confident when we tell them you were actually right.”

Gina gets permission for Nini and their band to play in front of the school as everyone is arriving one day. Live music will draw a crowd, no matter what, and when people stop by, Gina, Kourtney, and Maddox hand them pamphlets with information about Nini’s ideas for changing things at East High for the better.

Nini and Gina bake cupcakes at Nini’s house one night to hand out to potential voters. Well, Gina bakes cupcakes. Nini mostly steals tastes of batter and frosting when Gina’s not looking. When Gina finally catches them and slaps their hand, Nini wipes frosting on Gina’s nose. Gina retaliates.

And that’s how Nini and Gina destroy Nini’s moms’ kitchen. They do clean it up. Gina is a respectable young lady like that.

Nini, Gina, and all their friends also egg Mack’s house on Thursday night (a planned hatched after a viewing of Bottoms). It doesn’t help with the campaign in any way, but it makes Gina happy, and that’s good enough for Nini.

Finally Friday arrives. The polls are open from 8 AM to 12 PM, and the winner is to be announced at a schoolwide assembly at the end of the day. Nini makes it through their first class of the day, but then their nerves get the best of them. They spend the rest of the day in their spot under the bleachers.

Gina comes to visit her a few times. Jet and Ashlyn come through and hang out for most of the day. It helps the time pass. They’re all pretty good at taking Nini’s mind off things.

Gina is with Nini at 2 PM when Miss Jenn texts them.

MJ: Hello Dear. The votes have been counted, and I’m sorry, but Mack received 1498 votes. You only received 1496 votes.

Nini lets her head hang. The same thing happened that always happens when she puts herself out there. She gets disappointed.

“What’s wrong?” Gina asks.

Nini hands her their phone.

Gina reads the text quickly, then says, “Wait, this is within the margin for error. There has to be a recount. It’s in the SGA rulebook.”

Nini looks up at her then, her hopes starting to recover a little. “What? Really?”

“Yeah, you didn’t read that part?”

“Probably, but it was a lot to remember,” Nini says. “So what should I do?”

“Hand me your phone again,” Gina says. And her thumbs get to work. A couple of seconds later, Nini hears another text come through. Gina hands Nini back the phone.

MJ: You’re right! We’re going to get to work on that recount right now.

Gina kisses Nini on the cheek and turns to walk away.

“Where are you going?” Nini asks.

“I’m going to go watch the recount happen to make sure everything goes the way it should,” Gina says.

And Nini remembers that day in the river when Gina taught her to swim. She knows Gina won’t let anything happen to them. They know Gina has them.

Almost an hour later, Gina returns, but she doesn’t look happy. Nini’s hopes feel dashed again. They wonder if the world will ever stop shitting on them. But at least they have Gina now. If Gina still wants to be with a loser like her.

“Mack still had 1498 votes after the recount,” Gina says dismally.

“Okay,” Nini says, hanging their head again.

“But,” Gina adds. “You have 1500 votes even.”

Nini’s head shoots up. “What?”

“There were four ballots stuck to the bottom of one of the boxes. They found them. They were all for you. You won,” Gina says, with the brightest, most beautiful smile Nini has ever seen. “The results are final. I asked Miss Jenn to let me tell you. But you’re going to be the SGA president.”

There are few things Nini can remember that made her feel anything like she feels right now. Coming out to her moms, and them throwing her a party to celebrate was one. The first time she kissed Gina is another. Every other time she kissed Gina would be in that category, too. But other than those things? This is the greatest moment of Nini’s life.

They jump into Gina’s arms, and Gina holds her. Nini feels a tear sliding down her cheek. She lets it.

“Thank you,” she almost sobs into Gina’s shoulder.

“You did it, not me,” Gina says, setting Nini down.

“Please, I would have gotten my ass kicked without you. I owe you—I don’t know, but I owe you something.”

“You don’t owe me anything. But it makes me so happy that you’re happy.”

“I really am,” Nini says.

“Well, we need to get going then,” Gina says.

“To where?”

“Your inauguration speech, Madame President-Elect.

—------------------------

Gina watches from the wings of the stage as Nini takes their spot at the podium. They look so nervous, but so happy, too. Gina is just incredibly proud. This girl really did it.

Nini’s thumb swipes up and down on their phone for a moment before they step to the microphone.

“Hi,” she begins. And it must be a little louder than she would like, because they step back a little before starting again. “Hi,” she repeats, not projecting quite as loud this time. “First I guess I should thank those of you who voted for me. I didn’t know if anyone would believe in me, but so many of you did. It’s really, I don’t know, inspiring? But also humbling.”

Gina wonders if the little stall was part of the speech or Nini just doubting themself for a moment.

“Most of all,” Nini continues, “I want to thank my friends who helped me. Jet, Ashlyn, Kourtney, Maddox, you gave me such an amazing support system. And most, most of all, the person who I couldn’t have done this without, my beautiful girlfriend, Gina Porter.”

It takes a moment for Gina to register those words in her head. But her feet seem to figure it out first, because Gina is walking on stage before she even realizes she’s moving. Nini sees her and turns from the podium, and they’re reaching for Gina’s hands. And Gina feels almost like she’s floating above herself.

“Girlfriend?” she hears herself ask.

Nini blushes, turns her head. “Um, yeah, I may have been a little quick with that. I just—do you wanna? Be my girlfriend? My First Lady? The Michelle to my Barack?” 

Gina almost laughs, but her ears are buzzing so hard she can’t even process Nini’s corny line. Most of what she hears is a repeated thought in her head.

Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes.

“Okay,” she finally whispers.

“Okay?” Nini asks.

Gina nods, pulls Nini close. There’s no thunderous applause as they kiss like in the movies, but it’s fine. Gina doesn’t need that. All she needs is in front of her.

THE END