Third grade arrived soon enough, another year meant a new teacher, Mrs. McKinley, and a new combination of classmates. By now Ricky and Nini were both friends or at the very least familiar with all the other kids in their grade at their elementary school. But as always, the most important thing they cared about was that they would have another year of their best friend in their class with them.
Unfortunately, the only downside was Red and Kourtney were both in a different class this year, so while their quartet was divided, they all had someone they knew they could always rely on with them.
Ricky and Nini were still two peas in a pod, even if they weren't desk partners in their class they were near enough that they could almost always call out and still talk to each other during any free moments they had at school.
The biggest change for this year was that their parents had decided that as third graders, they were now old enough to go home and be by themselves after school—no more car rides from Mama C, except on special occasions or cases of bad weather. Now Nini usually rode her bike to school while Ricky would skateboard every day. He didn't even mind that he had to turn in his skateboard with the school secretary every morning, at least that way he knew it was always safe in the office.
As a result of this change, and a few others, Ricky and Nini were once again spending nearly every afternoon with each other. More often than not, Red and/or Kourtney would also be with them, but they could admit only to themselves that they especially looked forward to the days it was just the two of them for an hour or two depending on whose house they were at.
They both had their own things they were working on, Nini continued her weekly piano lessons, and if Ricky wasn't with Nini after school, he was probably at the skate park with Red still working on always improving just as much as Nini did with piano. But they also started sharing a new activity.
Still working on his bucket list, Ricky convinced his parents to sign him up for guitar lessons with Mr. Z, and of course, since Nini had already developed her skills with her ukulele, she was more than ready to take things to the next level by learning to play guitar too.
So, every Monday they stayed at school for an extra hour so they could both get their lessons in. Nini of course was progressing much faster than Ricky due to her prior experience but Ricky would never fault her for something like that. Just like with all the other things she always helped him with, she was the first one he always went to with any of his questions or struggles.
They both were renting their guitars for now, but after their lessons, they would usually try to play what they learned that day for each other, and shared guitar practice also became part of their after-school routine in addition to homework.
As they were getting older, they almost always had something that needed to be worked on after school. While Ricky would have much rather taken a break for TV or played a game first, Nini wasn't a procrastinator, and so he had accepted her mantra of working hard first, and then playing hard after school. It was fine with Ricky, no matter how much he often dramatically complained and wheedled Nini to convince her to watch TV or goof off for a little bit, but almost always they were both done in the first half hour and then had time to play or just relax together.
"You know Ricky," Nini spoke up after they were done with their homework for tonight. They had each finished 30 minutes of reading for their reading logs. Ever since second grade, Nini had made it her goal to read every Magic Treehouse book, while Ricky had recently become enthralled by the Animorphs books. He had his own reading goal too now, even if it wasn't on the bucket list.
"What?"
"I know you like to complain about me forcing you to do homework before we do anything fun-"
"I don't do that, very much." Ricky denied but then corrected himself.
"Whatever you want to tell yourself, but you're almost to your 25th AR test right?"
"Yep. Honestly, there is no way I'd do it without the Animorphs. These books are so awesome!"
"I know, I can understand the cool parts of turning into animals, but all the fighting and everything with the yeerks sounds horrible." Nini shuddered, she had been too freaked out by the idea of alien slugs taking over her brain by crawling in her ear. She refused to read anymore after she tried the first book.
"Yeah, I can see that. But still, it's just so good. It's like anything else, you just have to try it."
"Hey, I liked one of them, I like Cassie, and I liked our butterflies, but I can't imagine choosing to turn into a butterfly forever. Also, the idea of the yeerks is so creepy. Like anyone could be one, and we wouldn't even know."
"Yeah, but there is one person I would be able to tell."
"Who?"
"You," Ricky said with absolute confidence in his tone and sincere smile.
"Me?"
"Of course, I know you better than anyone Nini, and if I suspected even for a moment, I would so kidnap you in your treehouse for three days to make sure the yeerk dies. Like what happened to Jake."
"Ok, ok I get it, but I do not want to know any more details, those slugs just sound evil and gross."
"Ok, but beyond the AR tests, how is this good?"
"Because think about it Ricky, our parents aren't ever going to stop us from hanging out every day after school if we already have our homework done." Nini sat up from where she was leaning away from Ricky on the couch to lean up next to him instead. "Then they can't have any complaints about us relaxing on the couch."
"I guess you're right," Ricky smirked at her as he snaked an arm over her shoulder. "So, what you're saying is, with your work hard, play hard strategy means, work first so then no one can complain when they find us all cuddled up on the couch together."
"What can I say, Ricky?" Nini laughed, "I know what I like, and you give the best cuddles."
"Nope, I have to disagree with you there Nini, you give the best cuddles."
"No, it's you." Nini reached an arm around his back too, and leaned her cheek against his chest.
"Agree to disagree?"
Alright, truce for now. As long as you don't stop cuddling." Nini squeezed him tighter for a moment.
"You'll never have to worry about that." Ricky squeezed her back.
They continued to relax and watch TV for a while, almost always set to Disney Channel in the afternoons to watch their shared favorite TV shows, but Saturday mornings were still the time for Ricky's Pokemon although to be honest, by this point whether they were watching Pokemon or Hannah Montana, both were always equally invested in the shows.
TV always made for a good distraction from all their worries as they simply enjoyed their time together. And it allowed them to continue to cuddle, occasionally shifting against each other, trying to unconsciously pour more of the warm feelings of their shared proximity into themselves. Occasionally Nini would reach up to run her hand through Ricky's curly hair, while Ricky would often lightly stroke his hand over whatever braids or ponytail Nini had her hair done up in that day.
They were blind to the passage of time until they heard the garage door open, which they both knew was Mama C back from work for the night.
Wordlessly, but not without matching looks of longing, they untangled their limbs from each other, they still sat close enough for their knees to knock gently against each other, but leaving a few inches separating them at the shoulders.
"Hello Ricky, Nini. How was your day at school today?" Carol asked as she walked inside from the kitchen's doorway to the garage to greet them in the living room.
"Same old, same old," Nini reported.
"Same old? How can you say that?" Ricky asked, "We finally started our human body unit and Mrs. McKinley brought out an entire skeleton!"
"You're acting like it was a real person."
"He so was, remember? Mrs. McKinley told us his name was Bob Bones, that he died in a freak lawn mower accident!"
"Ricky! She was joking. She was even laughing when she told us."
"Well, I've heard that some people deal with grief with humor, so it could still be true."
"I don't think so, and do you really think a teacher would have an actual skeleton in her closet at school?"
"Sure, my mom says if you look hard enough everyone has skeletons in their closet."
Nini couldn't help sighing dramatically. "I honestly can't tell if you're being serious or not right now. Because honestly, you're probably the only person I know who would believe something like that."
"No argument here."
"Again, that's just an expression."
"OK ok, so what bones do you know now?" Mama C interrupted them with a smile. Breaking them out of their bubble, both scooted back when they realized that during their mini-argument they had shifted closer and closer to each other. .
They had both agreed to an unspoken rule not to tell anyone about their cuddling time after school. They had already gotten used to occasional teasing from their classmates over the years about how they must love each other so much since they spent almost all their time together. They'd always just brush it off as ridiculous and move on with their lives without giving it any thought. Even Ricky, his crush over the second grade hadn't faded, but he knew that as long as he and Nini were still best friends that was more than enough for him. Nini just thought the suggestions were ridiculous that a boy and a girl couldn't be best friends, even if she knew her friendship with Ricky was way different than her friendships with Kourtney and Red.
The last thing they wanted was to give their parents any reason to not let them join each other after school, hence Nini's constant insistence on homework first goals, and then keeping their cuddles just to themselves.
"Um sure," Ricky paused for a moment and then began singing. "The head bone's connected to the neck bone, the neck bones connected to the backbone. The back bone's connected to the arm bone, the arm bones connected to the wrist bone, the wrist bones connected to the hand bone-"
"Stop it that's enough." Nini shoved her hand over Ricky's mouth to shut him up. "We only just started talking about the body, so we didn't learn very much about bones today." Nini explained.
In response, Ricky then reached out to place his hand over Nini's mouth, and then pulled her hand off of his. "Well, you asked, what I knew and I told you."
Carol laughed at their antics as they struggled against one another playfully. "Oh don't worry Ricky, that was very…impressive. But I think I'll check in on you two in a few weeks to see how you're doing then. So I see you had a very humerus day with Bob, huh?"
"Yeah, Mrs. McKinely told a bunch of jokes," Nini said after she pried Ricky's hand off her mouth and playfully swatted his hand back at him. "Even if someone took them as literal."
"OK fine, I know Bob isn't a real guy, but wouldn't it be cool if he was? Mrs. McKinely would be either the coolest or scariest teacher ever. I definitely wouldn't ever fall asleep in her class."
"Oh, I guess you haven't covered the funny bone then." Carol teased them, as neither reacted at all to her pun.
"What's a funny bone?" Nini asked.
"Oh I know, it's this one." Ricky patted his upper arm, "because when you bang your elbow against something it doesn't hurt, it just feels funny for some reason."
"Funny how?"
"Just weird. I may have hit my funny bone a few times." Ricky said slowly, he knew how much Nini hated to hear about him getting hurt from his skateboarding.
"Let me guess, skateboard?" Nini raised an eyebrow at him. "Wait a minute, but you always wear your elbow pads right?"
"Yes…most of the time, but-"
"Ricky," Nini said slowly in a warning tone of voice.
"Hey," Ricky reached out to caress her cheek gently for a moment. "You know I'm always careful and fully padded up whenever I'm at the skatepark, both you and Mom and Dad have drilled that into my head, but sometimes if I'm just practicing at home, I'll try something quick, and maybe I'll hit the dirt, but I always get back up, and perfectly fine."
"If you say so, but if I ever see you without a helmet or anything, I'll send you home myself…and you won't get any cuddles for a whole week," Nini whispered the last part in his ear so her mom couldn't hear.
"You wouldn't dare. You wouldn't be able to last that whole week."
"I could so do it."
"No way, you'd crack by Wednesday at the latest, and that's only because we have guitar and piano lessons on Mondays."
"What are you two arguing about now?" Carol asked with another chuckle.
"Nothing!" Nini and Ricky both quickly cut themselves off, doing their best to hide their matching blushed cheeks, and tried to give Carol their best angelic smiles.
"I'm sure, but I know you two don't ever argue for long." Carol said wryly. "Nini, I'll start making dinner, and Ricky, Mike should be here in about fifteen minutes."
"I know. Thank you Mama C," Ricky replied, still smiling brightly until Carol left the room, ready for his and Nini's debate to resume. He reached out with his arm and closed the distance between his and Nini's sides. "As I was saying, there is no way you'd last a whole week."
"Oh really? Why do you doubt my resolve?"
"Because we both know that I'm irresistible." Ricky joked, and Nini playfully smacked his shoulder. "Ok ok, but seriously, I know for a fact that you would be just as miserable during that scenario as I would be."
"Ok, maybe you're right. But you've been warned."
"Hey, I said I almost always wear my helmet and everything else, just like I promised."
"I know, it's that almost part you need to work on though." Nini reminded him. "And I know you're right because I know if we did still spend afternoons together you'd make it your absolute mission to either annoy or torture me until I broke, or I'd have to give my moms a reason you can't come over for a week, and then I'd be even more miserable."
"All I heard was I'm right, you don't say that very often unless I'm agreeing with you."
"Jerk." Nini said light-heartedly, "It's like you're asking for it."
"Hey, I would never in a million years ask for something like that…even though it would be fun to prove to you how irresistible me and my cuddles are." Ricky teased her some more.
Nini rolled her eyes at him. "I would say if the roles were reversed in this scenario, you'd last about five minutes before caving in, but I know you'd see that as a good thing."
"That's because I love my best friend's cuddles so much. I'll tell you right now, five minutes is way too generous. I'd give it one minute if you're just sitting alone on the couch, but I'd probably shorten my resolve to 10 seconds if you made an effort to try to get me to break."
"Good to know." Nini finally rested her head against his shoulder again and sighed happily. "Honestly, I'm just happy that you always make me happier, even if it's something as simple as us being just like this, right here, right now."
"Got it, Gabriella."
Nini smiled, "glad to know you're still paying attention."
"I'll always pay attention to you. And you've made me watch all three of those movies so many times, I have everything practically memorized, and it's all because of you, and for you alone.
So they stayed just as close, sharing one another's warmth and happiness as they watched TV for a few more minutes before once again separating when Mike knocked on the front door before Ricky had to head home for the night.
So while Ricky and Nini were physically closer than ever when they had the house all to themselves, they were still just as close to each other at school and the playground as they had always been. As they continued to get older, more and more of their classmates noticed how if you wanted to find Nini, your best bet was to look for Ricky, and vice versa.
A few days later Ricky and Nini were walking around the playground at recess looking for something to do. They both saw a bunch of boys playing basketball.
"Hey Nini, think I should let my inner Troy Bolton out again?"
Nini couldn't help giggling. "But you don't have your Troy Bolton hair."
"I still don't understand why you laugh so much whenever you forced me to wear it when we used to play Troy and Gabriella." Ricky pointed out with a pout.
"Forced you? I remember you always saying yes pretty quickly, especially after you became obsessed with Bet On It for two weeks in kindergarten."
"Because it's the best song in the entire movie series." Ricky pointed out. "But anyway, want to see if we can join whatever basketball game they're all playing? I think it's pig or lightning, I can't tell."
"Sure, Troy." Nini said sarcastically, "Let's show them we've got our head in the game."
The two friends walked up to the group, and Ricky called out to the group of boys. "Hey, can we join your game?"
The group of about ten guys turned around and looked at them for a moment. "Sure-" one of the kids started saying, but he was interrupted by the tallest kid.
"Sure thing dude, but your girlfriend can't." The boy, Logan smirked at turned back to his friends who all laughed.
"What?" Ricky asked.
"I'm not his girlfriend," Nini said.
"She's not my girlfriend, she's my best friend," Ricky added too once his brain had connected the dots.
"Whatever you two say," Logan said sarcastically. "You two spend every recess together."
"Yeah, do you loooove each other?" Another kid asked, and that got all the boys to burst out in laughter and start making kissy lips and noises at them.
"No, we don't. We're best friends." Ricky repeated.
"Yeah, and why can't I play with you?"
"Cause, you're a girl. Girls can't play basketball." Another kid said.
Logan smirked, "But they make great cheerleaders. You can cheer us on while we play."
"No thank you," Nini said, sounding disgusted. "Girls can play basketball too."
"Not with us they can't. Ricky right? You can play with us, but she can't." Logan offered.
"Hey, trust me, Nini has just as much skill with a basketball as I do, in fact, more probably considering how much basketball she's seen in High School Musical."
"Ha ha ha!" Ricky's declaration made the entire group of boys burst out laughing.
"What? Do you think you can play basketball because you've watched High School Musical? That's dancing, not real basketball." Logan declared.
"But, but-" Ricky stuttered.
"Of course, we know it's not real basketball, but it's still something, and you know what, I don't want to play with jerks like you anyway." Nini turned around and marched away without looking back.
"Well, at least we got rid of her. Come on dude, let's play." Logan offered.
Ricky's shocked face, from watching Nini march away hardened into a steely glare he leveled at the boys. "No thanks, Nini's right, I don't want to play with a bunch of jerks either."
Ricky turned around too and started marching away.
"See, I told you she's his girlfriend, he follows her wherever she goes," Logan called out to another round of raucous laughter. "I bet he does everything she says without question because he loooves her."
"I bet she kisses him to control him. That's why he does whatever she says and follows her like a puppy!"
Ricky paused and clenched his fist. He turned around, but before he could do anything, he felt two small hands reach out and pull him back. Two hands he would know anywhere.
"Ricky, don't. Let's just go play something else." She whispered in his ear.
"But Nini, they're laughing at us." He could feel his face burning, "and they're making stuff up."
"Exactly, they're making up stuff that we both know isn't true." She tugged again, and turned him around, looking directly into his angry eyes. "If they don't want me to play with them, then I don't want to play with them either. Hey, you know people have been making stupid jokes like that about us for forever, because some people just can't understand how a boy and a girl can be best friends. That just shows they don't know us. Now come on, let's go."
"OK Nini, I'm with you." Ricky reached out to hold her hand, and both walked calmly away with their heads held high, even if a few more annoying jokes sprung up behind them, Ricky just focused himself on staying calm and taking some of Nini's silent strength into himself.
They sat down on an empty bench, and they both reached out to hold each other in a side hug for a few long moments as they thought over what had just happened.
"Nini, can I ask you something?"
"Of course you can. You can ask me anything, Ricky." Nini smiled at him.
"Aren't you mad? How were you so calm? It wasn't just the jokes, but how they were talking about the both of us and how I must only be your friend or follow you around because you kiss me. Which obviously isn't true, but didn't that bother you?"
Nini shrugged her shoulders, "Yeah, it did a little bit, but I've learned a long time ago to not worry about people who think bad things about my family and friends."
"What do you mean?"
"Well, before I even started kindergarten, my moms sat me down for a talk and warned me about what kids or parents could say about me having two moms."
"What? Who would ever say anything bad about your moms? Your moms are awesome!" Ricky said enthusiastically.
"I know that," Nini beamed at him for a moment, "and you know that, and all my friends know that, but they warned me years ago that not everyone will take the time to know them, to know us first before making their judgment. There have been times when we're all together somewhere like a restaurant or the store and one of us mentions something about us all being a family, and there's just this look people get on their faces for a moment. Like they think something is wrong with my moms because they love each other, or that they have me without a dad."
"What? That's so dumb. Doesn't that make you angry?"
"Of course it does, and it makes me sad because it makes my moms angry and sad too, but whenever that does happen, Mama C and Mama D always make sure to tell me that no matter who it is, if someone judges me for what I look like, who my friends and family are, or anything without knowing who I am on the inside, that reflects more on them than on me." If people want to judge me without knowing who I am. If they want to call me a bad person for no good reason, then they're the bad person, not me."
"OK, but how do you make them stop?"
"Either you ignore it, Mama C says most bullies will stop if you don't react, avoid it if possible, both of which we did today. But if needed, I shouldn't be afraid to stand up for myself and other people I care about. Those boys obviously weren't in the mood to listen to us right now, so ignoring and avoiding them was the best option."
"OK, I think I understand. I'll try to think about your moms' advice too. But really, are you ok after all that stuff they were saying?"
Nini squeezed his hand tighter for a moment in a comforting gesture, "Hey, I'm with you Ricky, and you always make me happy, even when other people are being stupid or mean. I know I can always count on you, my family, and all my other friends that I know without a doubt care about me just as much as I care about them because we all know the real us. That all fills me up with more happiness than anything negative someone throws in my way."
"Hey, you know I'm the exact same way, you always make me happy, in ways that no one else ever does. Like right now." Ricky finally started smiling again, "You always seem to know just what I need to hear to make me feel better. Thank you."
"You're welcome, Ricky." Nini smiled back at him. "You know what though?"
"What?"
"Recess is almost over, but that doesn't matter, we'll find something fun to do next recess with Red and Kourtney and we'll have so much fun we'll forget all about those mean kids." Nini declared, "But also I think we both could use some extra cuddles this afternoon."
"Extra cuddles? What does that mean?"
"I think we'll be fine if we take one afternoon off of homework. I want to spend plenty of time destressing the best way I know how."
"Nini, have I ever told you you're a genius?"
"No." Nini shook her head after a moment of trying to flip through her countless memories spent with Ricky."
"You're a genius because that sounds like a great idea."
Nini smiled, and laid her head on his shoulder, "You just want more cuddles, you can't fool me."
"Guilty, but I wasn't trying to fool you. When have I ever fooled you? You know me better than anyone else."
"And don't you forget it."
"Never."Ricky promised.
True to Nini's estimate, the recess monitor blew their whistle for everyone to head inside. Ricky and Nini reached out to hold each other's hands while they lined up, and even though they heard a few teasing comments from that some group of boys from earlier, they both kept their focus only on each other, and squeezing each other's hand tighter when they could tell their friend needed an extra boost to their resolve.
A few hours later when they were at Ricky's house, cuddled up together on his couch and watching TV, they no longer had any worries about today's events, all they needed was the reminder of the truth of how much they both cared about each other, that is all they'll ever need.