Nini was sleeping peacefully, in her head she was reliving a common dream of hers. She's dancing and singing at East High with all her favorite Wildcats, she sang with just as much gravitas as Sharpay, and as much heart as Gabriella, but her dreams were interrupted, and she opened her eyes.
She glanced around in confusion for a few moments as she wondered why she wasn't in her bed, but her mind quickly clicked back into place. She was in her and Ricky's blanket fort for their first-ever sleepover. Nini couldn't help smiling at the thought, even though she was still drowsy.
She settled down to go back to sleep, but she heard a low wailing, that sounded like it was being muffled by something and maybe even sniffles.
She rolled herself over to her side to look over at Ricky, in the half-light of their blanket fort, she could just barely make him out as a lump among all the shadows. His back was facing her, but she was pretty sure she could see his body shaking and he made a few more, sad-sounding noises.
Nini pulled herself up and scooted over to Ricky's side to tap him on his shoulder. "Ricky, are you awake?"
Ricky flinched slightly, but then slowly turned himself over in his nest of blankets too. Nini couldn't see too many fine details, but he clutched his favorite teddy bear to his chest like it was a lifeline.
"Ricky, what's wrong?"
Ricky reached up to rub at his eyes. No… Nothing's wrong. Nini…I…I didn't wake you up did I? He said in a shaky voice.
"No," Nini answered, "I just…woke up on my own, and then I saw you. Are you ok? You look like you're shaking."
"Um…I…" Ricky said, still holding onto his bear in a death grip, but it only took the sound of Nini's concerned voice, and knowing that his best friend was here with him he broke down.
The tears started flowing freely, and he sobbed. "I miss my Mom and Dad!"
"Oh no, why Ricky?" Nini closed the distance between them to wrap Ricky up in one of her best hugs. She knew giving him a hug always made her feel happy, and she knew she could make Ricky just as happy, based on the smiles they each wore whenever they shared a hug hello or goodbye.
"I…this is my first time ever that I'm not with my Mom or Dad or Grandma or Grandpa." Ricky said, he managed to let go of his bear long enough so that he could hold onto Nini just as tightly and cried into her shoulder. "I…I just woke up and I thought about how they're so far away…and then I couldn't help it."
"Are you scared?" Nini asked gently.
"No way, I'm not scared." Ricky pulled away from Nini and gave his best attempt at a brave face, but Nini wasn't buying it.
"Is it too dark? I'm scared of the dark too. We can move my nightlight inside so we can see better."
"No, it's not the dark. I mean I don't especially like the dark either but it's enough light that it doesn't scare me right now." Ricky insisted. "I just really miss my mom and dad."
"Oh, Ricky… it's ok. How can I help you be happy again?"
"I don't know… you can go back to sleep, I'll try to be quiet so I won't wake you up again."
"Ricky…" Nini shook her head. "Do you think I'd be able to sleep if I knew my best friend can't sleep and is sad and homesick?"
"No." Ricky admitted, "I don't think I would be able to sleep either if our roles were reversed."
"OK, then…you know my moms always tell me it's ok to cry. It doesn't help you if you keep all your feelings inside, because then they can't go anywhere, then they're just bottled up and waiting to explode like a bag of popcorn in the microwave."
"They do? My parents haven't told me that."
"Well it's true, you can ask my moms in the morning. Oh, do you want to call your parents? I know where my moms plug in their phones at night."
"No, don't do that. I feel bad enough that I woke you up. I can't wake my mom and dad up too. And if I tell them I'm homesick, they'll want to bring me home…and I don't want our first ever best friend sleepover to be over yet."
"You don't?"
"No way." Ricky managed a small smile. "I don't want anything to ever take me away from you, much less me. I…I don't ever want to be Troy in the second movie when he was making his friends mad, and didn't have time for them, especially Gabriella."
"I'm happy you feel the same way I do," Nini replied happily. "Ricky, as much as I would love spending every single day of the week playing together, or going to school, or doing anything. It's just as important that you are just as happy as I am when we're together. But for now, I'm going to make sure you can get back to sleep and happy dreams."
"How are you going to do that?" Ricky asked.
"Let's just talk," Nini answered. She scooted back slightly and laid her head back on her pillow, while still looking at Ricky, she motioned for him to do the same on his pillow, which he did.
"What's something you haven't told me yet?"
"Um…" Ricky had to think for a moment, "Oh, I know. "So my Mom has a flower garden in our backyard and I like helping her with them. My favorite is this super big rosebush, and Mom even showed me how to make fancy-looking bouquets and arrangements, although right now they don't quite turn out as I picture in my head, my Mom says the ones I make are just as beautiful as hers."
"Ahh, you like flowers. I wish my moms had a garden. But both of them told me that they don't have green thumbs. Can I see your garden the next time I visit your house?"
"Well, I can show it to you, but everything is done growing for the winter. It doesn't look very pretty right now. But in the spring or summer, I promise I'll show it to you. You can help me and Mom plant the new flowers."
"I would love that. So, Ricky likes flowers. I think that's great. Ooh, can you make me one of your bouquets sometime?"
"You bet I will. Especially if you're already so excited about them."
"Of course I am. I don't know anyone else in our class who knows how to make a bouquet." Nini pointed out.
"OK ok. So I like flowers, that's the big secret. Now you tell me something new I don't know about you."
"OK…" Nini had to think for a moment too so she could find something she hadn't told Ricky yet either. "Alright, I have a super-duper secret, I don't think I've ever told this to anyone except for Kourtney before."
"Oh boy, what is it?" Ricky asked excitedly.
"I was born in California."
"You were?"
"Yeah, my Moms had me and then we moved to Salt Lake City."
"OK, that's cool, but is that a secret?" Ricky asked.
"Well, now you and Kourtney are the only ones at school who know, and since only two other people know it, it has to be a secret. I don't care if it is secret, but you wanted to know something I haven't told you yet."
"OK, ok." Ricky nodded his head and let loose another yawn. "Have you ever been back to California?"
"No, my moms are always too busy with their jobs to plan a big family trip like that. Our usual summer family vacations are just weekend trips, which are awesome but I've never been back to California."
"So, do you miss California?" Ricky asked.
"No, I was a baby, silly. I was too little to remember. Salt Lake is my home."
"Good, because it's my home too, I've lived here my whole life but even more especially since it's where you are too."
"Ahh, Ricky. You are a new reason that Salt Lake is my home too, just like it's because it's where my moms are, but also because you're here too. Are you feeling better?"
"Yeah, I am. Thank you, Nini, you helped me realize that I know my parents may be a few streets away, but I don't need to worry when I'm with you."
"I'm happy to help." Nini reached up to rub her eyes, a motion that didn't go unnoticed by Ricky.
"Nini, I think I'm ready to go back to sleep again. I'll see you in the morning."
"Not if I see you first." Nini giggled. "Goodnight again Ricky."
"Goodnight Nini." Ricky replied. They both settled down to sleep once again and were soon lost in peaceful slumber once more.
The next morning, the Salazar-Roberts home was peaceful and quiet, despite all the singing, laughter, and dancing that had happened last night, so far everything was calm as the first cheerful rays of sunlight lit up the floor of the living room. Being all snuggled up in their fort, Ricky and Nini were able to keep dreaming for as long as they wished. But a delectable aroma from the kitchen began permeating the air.
Ricky opened his eyes and glanced around the fuzzy, colorful walls of their fort. Last night he had woken up and he had felt a hole in his chest at the simple thought of his parents being so far away from him, even though he knew they were only a five-minute drive away, he had momentarily felt so alone. And then Nini woke up, and made everything better for him. He knew she was completely right, that both of them were quickly becoming a new part of their home, and not just because they had visited each other's houses so much already on play dates, and now sleepovers.
The long and short of it was, in Ricky's mind, was that Nini was an important part of his life, even if they had only met a mere two months ago, and he wanted to hold onto and cherish the happiness she always gave him just by walking into the room.
He sat himself up from his nest of blankets and glanced over at Nini. She was still sleeping soundly, in the quiet house he could hear the gentle sound of her breathing in and out of her nose with each breath. She had a peaceful smile on her face, and Ricky was happy to just sit and watch her as his head filled with random thoughts of his best friend, everything they had done yesterday, and what they already had planned for today before he had to go back home. Part of him wanted to poke Nini, so they could get going, time was wasting after all, but also he didn't want to do anything to end this moment of just the two of them.
But he sat there, his nose finally caught onto what had woken him up in the first place, a sweet, warm feeling sound that made his stomach growl in hunger. He could also hear the slight sound of something sizzling in the distance, along with Nini's mom's whispers to each other.
He glanced back at Nini after his momentary distraction, and he could see her nose twitching too. While her eyes were still closed, she stretched out her arms and legs as far as she could reach and only then opened her eyes. Her warm brown eyes met Ricky's lively hazel, and she smiled instinctively up at him.
"Good morning Ricky." Nini said, pulling herself up into a sitting position.
"Good morning to you too Nini." Ricky replied. "Did you sleep well?"
"Oh yeah, I slept great. How long have you been awake?"
"Only a few minutes."
"You could have woken me up you know."
"No way, I wanted to let you sleep, especially after I already woke you up once last night." Ricky looked down for a moment, which Nini immediately noticed.
"You did no such thing, and I am happy I could help you feel better." Nini corrected him. Leaving no room for any arguments otherwise.
"Yes Nini. But still you looked so calm and peaceful I couldn't wake you up."
"Alright I forgive you. As long as you didn't eat breakfast without me, I'll be fine." Nini giggled.
"Yeah speaking of which, can you smell that?"
"What?" Nini lifted her nose in the air, and took a big, exaggerated sniff. "Oh! That's Mama D's pancakes! Come on we need to go now." Nini jumped up out of her nest of blankets with the same enthusiasm she had when singing Bop to the Top the night before.
"Really? How do you know?"
"Because, it's our Saturday morning tradition. And they are absolutely delicious!" Nini declared and pulled Ricky out of his blankets too. "Let's go! Let's go!"
"OK, I'm following." Ricky promised and loyally followed her out of the then and to the kitchen.
When they arrived, Dana and Carol were both hard at work in the kitchen, Dana was at the griddle flipping pancakes, while Carol was standing by the stove, frying up eggs and bacon.
"Good morning Moms!" Nini shouted happily and ran to give each of her moms a hug.
"Good morning sweetheart, and good morning to you too Ricky." Both Dana and Carol replied.
"Did you two sleep well last night?" Carol asked.
"Yep, everything was great. I slept like a baby."
"Yeah, I woke up once, but Nini helped me get back to sleep." Ricky added.
"But now we're hungry for breakfast so we can get everything else done that we've planned for today." Nini declared.
"OK, but you know Ricky's mom is picking him up at noon right?"
"What time is it now?"
"9:00," Dana answered as she continued flipping pancakes.
"So, we only have…" both Nini and Ricky began counting on their fingers, trying to do the mental math. "3 hours?" "4 hours?"
"Sorry Ricky, Nini has that one. It's 3 hours you have to spend before your mom gets here."
"Only three hours?" Ricky and Nini both whined.
"Yes, but don't eat too fast now. We don't want you two to choke. You know you'll have plenty of time together both today and next week."
"We know." Ricky and Nini both smiled to each other about their plans for the rest of the week and next weekend.
"Why don't you two set the table for us while we finish cooking?" Carol suggested.
"Yeah! We can do that! Ricky, let me show you where everything is." Nini said.
Working together they soon set the table for four places, while Carol and Dana brought over the pancakes, eggs, bacon, juice, and milk, and then helped serve the kids their breakfast for the day.
Dana and Carol asked them all about their night, and both of them were excited to share just how great the High School Musical movies were and how now both of them couldn't wait to see the third one next Friday.
"So Nini, do you know what the third one is going to be about?" Ricky asked.
"Um…all I know is that Troy and Gabriella and everyone is going to be graduating in it, and its their senior year. I don't really know much other than that."
"Cool, I can't even imagine being a high schooler. Like Ryan our High School Helper is awesome but he's so much older than us, and he sounds so smart!"
"I know, but I assume there's going to be some problems that are going to come up, but I don't know what problems there could be."
Dana broke into the conversation, "Well, for a lot of high schoolers, senior year is a lot of fun, but it also involves a lot of choices, like where they want to go to college, and what they want to study for their future."
"Or even whether or not to go to college in general." Carol added.
"Oh, hey Nini, do you think Troy is going to need to choose between basketball and singing for college? Can you do both in college?" Ricky asked.
Carol and Dana both shrugged their shoulders. "I don't know Ricky." Carol answered, "but I think it would be a choice Troy will have to make based on the last two movies."
"Oh, and I think maybe Gabriella and Troy will go to different colleges…because Moms, in the first movie Gabriella mentioned something about Stafford? No Stanford. And that's a really smart college right? And in the 2nd movie, that college basketball team was for the um University of Alberky? Are they close at least?"
"I'm pretty sure its Albuquerque, and no sweetheart, those two schools aren't that close to each other, but you'll just have to wait and see, right?"
"Yeah, I suppose so. Where did you go to college Moms? I know you always say its in California, but I can't remember where."
"UCLA in Los Angeles." Dana and Carol both smiled proudly. "We really should go back there sometime, show Nini where we first met."
"And fell in love." Carol smiled and kissed Dana's cheek.
"Awe." Nini sighed happily at her parents' affection.
"So what do you even do in college?" Ricky asked.
Dana answered first, "Well officially, you go to college to learn enough that you can get the job you want…but really it's one of the few times in your life that you can do whatever you want."
Carol added on, "You can discover yourself, your passions, what makes you, you."
"And helps you decide the person you want to grow into. But you two are in kindergarten, so you won't need to worry about any of those things for a long, long time."
"Yeah, you two should stay as little as you can for as long as possible. You'll know when you're ready to step into the spotlight though."
"And we can't wait to see everything that you two will accomplish by the time you are Troy and Gabriella's age."
"Thanks Moms. So do you know anything else about the movie?"
"Well," Carol and Dana smiled at each other, for a moment, and then turned back to Nini. "All we know about the movie is from watching the trailer with you Nini. So you know just as much as we do."
"OK, I really can't wait until Friday night. Ricky are you done eating?"
"Yeah, I am." Ricky set down his fork, which he had absentmindedly been playing with a bit, just twirling it around on his plate for the past few minutes.
"Then like Mama said, we only have a few hours left to play. So let's go!"
"OK!" Ricky was quick to follow Nini back to their fort in the living room.
"So, what do you want to play?"
"I don't know... Oh! I want to play high school musical!" Nini declared.
"How do we do that? Do you want to play with your Barbies and pretend they're the characters?"
"No, 'cause I don't have that many that look like the characters, much less have the right clothes for them. Oh Ricky, I just got a really great idea!"
"What is it, Nini?"
"So you know how the movie and Halloween are both coming up next week?"
"Yeah…" Ricky nodded his head. "Of course I know that."
"I just had another best idea ever. What if for the movie on Friday, and then on Halloween the week after, we dressed up as Troy and Gabriella? Doesn't that sound like fun?"
"But, I already have my Spider-Man costume." Ricky pointed out.
"Please Ricky." Nini moved closer to Ricky and gave him her best puppy dog begging eyes. "Pretty please with a cherry on top? You'll be my bestest friend in the whole wide world forever. Please."
"I thought I was already your bestest friend forever."
"Yeah, and that's why I know you'll say yes, right?"
"OK. You can stop looking at me like that. For you Nini, I would happily dress up as Troy, but what would I even wear?"
"Hmm, I think to make it obvious, you need to wear a basketball jersey with the number 14 on it, that would probably be easiest. Do you have any basketball jerseys?"
"No, I don't." Ricky shook his head, "and we only have a week, where would we find one?"
"I know, I bet we can ask Kourtney. She's super good at making cute clothes and costumes."
"Really? But she's in kindergarten like we are." Ricky pointed out.
"Well yeah, but have you seen her clothes, and how stylish she is? I just know with her help we'll be able to look just like Troy and Gabriella."
"OK Nini, we'll need to ask her on Monday then. Ricky decided. So what will you wear to be Gabriella, 'cause she doesn't really have a costume does she?"
Nini thought over his point for a moment before answering, "Oh I know, I can wear a lab coat like she was wearing for the…I can't remember the name...science competition thing."
"Yeah, I'm sure that will look great." Ricky nodded, "So again what do you want to do before I have to go home?"
"Well, now we can draw out our costumes so we can show Kourtney. I know I've watched the movies with her, but now I'm even more excited and want to start working on this right now!"
"OK, ok."
They worked together to gather all of Nini's collection of crayons, colored pencils, markers, and paper and went back to the kitchen which her moms had already cleaned up from breakfast. They spent the rest of their time hard at work coming up with different designs for what their costumes should look like, they were both pretty simple in their ideas, but having seen Kourtney's work before, Nini knew she would want details.
For Nini, the only detail she needed to make sure of was the symbol for the academic decathlon looked right, so she had Mama D put the DVD in again, and then skip to the end so Nini could copy the patch.
Ricky meanwhile was just happy to have time to color and draw that was also being spent with Nini, and he wasn't quite as worried about the details, he just drew a basketball Jersey and wrote the number 14 on it.
Before they knew it though, Ricky's Mom was knocking on the front door.
"Mom!" Like usual, Ricky jumped up out of his chair to hug his mom in greeting and it was only then that Ricky and Nini explained to all of their parents just what their plan entailed, and while Lynne was a little hesitant at first since they already had a Spider-Man costume at their home, she did agree and told Ricky that when they went grocery shopping tomorrow, they can also look for a red shirt and white felt so they could make his jersey.
After saying their goodbyes this time both were smiling, they always hated leaving each other, but for the weekend they both had their own missions to complete, which thanks to her Moms, Nini was also going to be getting a shopping trip to the local Spirit Halloween to find a lab coat for her to wear. Thankfully she was able to find it, along with a potential accessory for Ricky that her parents also agreed to buy.
Monday at school came around, and thanks to a phone call from Nini's moms on Sunday evening, Nini, Ricky, Kourtney, and Little Red were all going to go to Kourtney's house after school to work on their costumes. Little Red had never seen High School Musical, and so had no real idea what his other friends were talking about but he was happy to be invited to their costume-making party, and even more so when Ricky offered to let him use his Spider-Man costume this year since Ricky was no longer going to be wearing it.
"OK, everyone. We have a lot of work to do this afternoon, and everyone's moms are coming to pick them up before supper. So everyone needs to listen to me." Kourtney ordered.
"Yes sir!" Nini saluted and then burst out laughing, which made all the kids burst into laughter too, even Kourtney.
"OK, Nini, I've already made most of the patch for your lab coat. It'll just attach with a safety pin. Kourtney held up a small white felt circle and showed the back where a safety pin had already been glued on. You've already practiced drawing the symbol, so you can draw it again using these fabric markers. But you need to be careful though, because once you color on the fabric, it'll be stuck like that, understand?
"Yes Kourtney, I'll be careful."
"OK, so Ricky based on your drawings…and more importantly the pictures Nini gave me."
"Wait, what pictures?" Ricky asked.
"I took a few pictures of the movie with my camera." Nini said, holding up the picture, one Troy with the front of the Jersey, and one showing on the back.
"As I was saying. The main thing we need to do is cut out the 2 14s, Wildcats on the front, and Bolton on the back. Boys, that's your job after I write them out. You two know how to use scissors, right?"
"Yeah, of course we do, we're not three years old." Ricky replied.
"Then what are you going to be doing?" Red asked.
"I'm going to be the one sticking everything together with fabric Glue. Just cut out the letters and numbers well, and I'll make your jersey look fabulous."
"OK, we got this Red." Ricky nudged his friend. "Are you ready?"
"Yep, as long as I get Spider-Man at the end of this, I'm good."
So all the kids got to work, Ricky and Red were both able to cut relatively straight on the lines of the numbers and letters for the jersey, which was a plain red tank-top and shorts Ricky's mom had bought Saturday afternoon. All of them were pretty focused, but that didn't stop them from chatting and joking around about their days. Mostly just comparing the differences between being part of Mrs. Haaland's and Mrs. Kruse's classes.
Nini was the first one done, she had been practicing copying the decathlon symbol at least 10 times on Sunday because she wanted to make sure she got it looking perfect for the costume. When she was finished, both she and Kourtney gave their seals of approval and Kourtney pinned the patch to Nini's labcoat to complete her costume.
Kourtney then returned her focus to Ricky's costume, and she expertly glued every piece in just the right place, so while it may have been a bit low budget. Kourtney's mom had told her she needed to wait until she was a few years older to learn how to screen print or use iron-on designs, it was exactly what she had originally envisioned.
"You two have to try them on."
"Alright." Nini pulled on her lab coat, and Ricky threw the jersey over his head but didn't worry about the shorts right now.
Then they both gave a short fashion show, strutting down the middle of Kourtney's living room and striking a pose from the movie to Red and Kourtney's round of applause.
"These look so great Kourtney. You're a fashionista!" Nini congratulated her friend.
"Thank you so much. This looks just like the movie." Ricky said as he looked down not only at his own costume but also at Nini.
"Oh, and Nini, based on your pictures, I wrote down my advice to help your hair look just like Gabriella's in the movie." Kourtney ran to her bedroom for a few moments and then returned with a notebook paper in hand.
"Thanks Kourtney. I know I can trust your hair advice just as much as everything else, and speaking of, Ricky I have one more thing for you to complete your costume." Nini ran over to her backpack.
"Oh don't worry Nini, I have a basketball at home that I'll bring to school." Ricky told her.
"No, not that. While your curly hair is great, it just isn't Troy." Nini said as she dug through her backpack.
"You don't like my hair?" Ricky asked, sounding crestfallen as he lifted his hand to run through his curls.
"No, not at all Ricky. Your hair is great, but I saw this at the costume store when my moms and I bought my lab coat and I thought it would look perfect." Nini held up a bag and it looked like some kind of furry thing was in it.
"What is that? Is it a dead animal?" Red asked.
"No, of course not. It's a wig for Ricky." Nini explained.
"A wig? Why?"
"So you can look like Troy." Nini took the wig out of the bag and held it out to Ricky. "Can you please try it on? And Kourtney's here to make sure it looks good, right Kourt?"
"You bet Ricky. I can make everyone look fabulous."
"OK, I'll try it." Ricky put the wig on his head, and at first it just looked like a fluffy bunny or something was sitting on his head, making all three of the other giggle, so Kourtney stepped forward and straightened everything out so now he was the splitting, if a much shorter image of Zac Efron.
"Looking good Ricky." Red smiled.
"Really?"
"Of course you look great, I'm the one who made your costume." Kourtney said.
Ricky pointed as he felt his face heating up. "Then why is Nini still laughing?"
Indeed, Nini was still doubled over laughing, and she started again every time she glanced up at Ricky again. "Ha ha ha. I'm sorry Ricky…but you just look so funny, like you and Troy have been squished together. Ha ha ha."
"Nini…" Ricky felt his cheeks starting to burn. "Do I look ridiculous to you?"
"No, not ridiculous, I'm sorry Ricky." Nini had to take a deep breath and had to bite her tongue. "I think you look great, exactly like the movie."
"Really? Then why are you laughing at me?"
"I don't know, but seeing you looking like that makes me really happy."
Nini stepped closer to Ricky and put her hand on his shoulder. "It's your choice if you want to wear the wig, but I promise if I do laugh at you, it's not because I want to make fun of you, it's because you are making me smile so much that I can't help but laugh along. I know how much you wanted to be Spider-Man, but it means the world to me that you'll dress up with me, as one of my best friends."
"OK, I'll wear the wig, for you. And even if you do laugh at me before the movie, or at school or trick or treating, or wherever I wear it, I'll be fine, because hearing your laughter, and knowing that you're happy, makes me happy too."
"Yay. Thank you, Ricky." Nini pulled Ricky in for a hug and they held each other close just for a moment until they pulled away again.
"Thank you, Kourtney, based on Nini's reaction, I must look perfect."
"Of course, you do." Nini said with a smile, she couldn't help herself from reaching out to ruffle his hair. "So, Kourtney what's your costume going to be?"
"Mine isn't finished yet, but I am going to be Raven from That's So Raven! She's a fashion designer like me! It's the perfect costume!"
"I can't wait to see it at school then." Red said.
"Yep, this Halloween is going to be so awesome!" Ricky cheered, and that messed up his hair a bit, so he had to flip his head to move the wig's bangs from blocking his eyes.
"But even better, High School Musical 3 is in only 4 days! I already know its going to be the best movie ever!"
"As long as I get to see it with you, I know it will be." Ricky replied.