The rest of Ricky and Nini's summer flew by, time always seemed to fly when they were having fun, and since they spent several hours together nearly every day the summer seemed to be moving faster and faster. After their birthdays had passed in June, the next big event was celebrating the Fourth of July with plenty of parade candy and also plenty of barbeque, plus watching fireworks light up the sky from Nini's treehouse that night. They attempted to once again stay up late, but even with the booms and lights from their neighbor's backyard fireworks, they couldn't make it the whole night before curling up in their sleeping bags.
But eventually August rolled in, which was exciting for several reasons. Last week their group of friends found out they would all have Ms. Kleckner as their first-grade teacher, and they couldn't wait to continue their friendship into the school year that was soon starting. They all quickly loved their new teacher and classes just as much as last year. Even though this year, for now at least Ricky was sitting beside Red, and Nini was seated next to Kourtney on the other side of the room. When they arrived at Nini's house after school on their first day, they agreed that while they would have preferred that they be desk partners again, they were still happy enough to be in the same class and could see and hear each other. Plus they each had their other best friend with them, so it wasn't a big deal.
For their first science unit, Ms. Kleckner taught them all about butterflies. How their life cycle took them through the process of metamorphosis as they grew from egg to caterpillar, to chrysalis, to butterfly. One of the highlights of their lesson was that each student got their caterpillar in a cup that they could observe growing and changing every day until they would eventually be released into the wild.
Nini felt especially fascinated by these lessons, thinking about how a creature so small could change so much that it was unrecognizable as it grew into what it was always meant to be. Another fact about butterflies she was interested in was when Ms. Kleckner told them that monarch butterflies only laid their eggs on one plant, milkweed because it was the only thing the caterpillars could eat, but because milkweed was considered a weed in a lot of places, it was getting more and more difficult for the butterflies to travel across the US in their yearly migrations.
So, she began hatching a plan with Kourtney one day who agreed to help her wholeheartedly, since in her words, butterflies were the only bugs with any sense of style, and so they deserved all the help they could get.
Ms. Kleckner had told them about a local group dedicated to protecting monarch habitat around Salt Lake City, it was where she had gotten the butterflies for her class in the first place, and how they were always eager for donations and other support. So Nini and Kourtney settled on the idea of holding a lemonade stand to raise money for the butterflies, and with their moms' approval they easily acquired everything they needed. So on Labor Day Weekend, they pulled all of their supplies to a nearby park and got set up.
They couldn't have picked a better time, as this weekend was a real scorcher of a clear sunny sky and temperatures in the eighties, a potential last burst of summer heat before the chill of autumn began to seep into the city. There were plenty of people visiting the park on their extended weekend, so they had no shortage of customers.
Their setup was relatively simple. They set up beside the sidewalk near the entrance to the park, with one cooler forming their counter space lined with plastic cups filled with ice and lemonade, along with the pitcher and more cups for later. The cooler was filled with ice and a second pitcher full of lemonade was inside keeping things cool. Nini had been in charge of making the lemonade, and in addition, Kourtney also made a bunch of bracelets with butterfly beads on them people could buy too. They had worked together to make several signs advertising their refreshing lemonade to support the butterflies.
Their moms took shifts watching over the girls from a nearby bench, and since business was booming on such a hot weekend Their prices were pretty hefty, with $1 for a glass of lemonade or each bracelet, but combining the heat and the good cause, their customers were far from complaining.
While the girls were focused on their lemonade stand, they insisted that they didn't need the boys' help with anything, which they were fine with. Ricky and Red spent most of the long weekend at the nearby skatepark, trying out new tricks on their boards, and stopping every once in a while to grab a glass of ice-cold lemonade. Ricky and Red had negotiated that they could get their lemonade for half price as the Best Friends Discount, but they still wanted to support their cause, which Ricky and Red happily agreed to. Ricky and Red had loved getting their pet caterpillars in class, but they hadn't been nearly as concerned with supporting the plight of the monarch butterflies as much as Nini and Kourtney were, but they were still happy to support their best friends.
Ricky in particular was drinking so much lemonade he was on a sugar rush in addition to needing the restroom about four times that day, because he couldn't stop himself from checking in with Nini at least twice an hour and buying a lemonade each time he did so that she wouldn't accuse him of holding up the line.
But on Labor Day itself, Ricky and Red decided to ride their bikes instead of their boards to the park, hoping to try some new tricks they had been practicing on their own at the skatepark for the first time. Dana had agreed to watch all four of the kids for the morning, so that everyone else, especially the Redonovich's could have a rest at home. (Labor Day was one of the handful of holidays Salt Lake Slices was closed)
The big trick Ricky had been practicing most of the morning was popping a wheelie on his bike and riding along as far as he could on just one wheel. He was doing pretty well by his judgment, as at the skatepark he had a lot more room to go compared to his driveway, although he didn't quite have his turning skills down yet, he thought he was ready to show Nini.
"Hey, Red," Ricky said, stopping beside his friend for a moment before he began attempting a front wheel hop. One of the reasons Ricky was so focused on riding his bike in a wheelie was because Red had already mastered the trick. "I'm going to go show Nini and Kourtney."
"Alright, I'll be back here. I think I almost got it down." Red then attempted to demonstrate, he got on the front tire just fine, but once he tried hopping he immediately lost his balance and the bike fell over to the side.
"Are you OK Red?" Ricky asked. Getting off his bike to help pull his friend back to his feet.
"Yeah, don't worry. That's what the helmets and pads are for." Red smiled at him and tapped his helmet.
"Of course." Ricky laughed and tapped his own. "I'll be back in a few minutes."
"I'm sure. Hey, bring me back another lemonade while you're gone?"
"You've got it, buddy." Ricky smiled back and pedaled away.
It only took him about a minute to approach Nini and Kourtney's lemonade stand, and for the moment they didn't appear to have any customers, which would be perfect for Ricky, Nini's attention would be all on him and he should have plenty of space.
"Hey Nini, watch this!" Ricky shouted.
Nini turned her head and smiled when she saw him coming. "Looks like Ricky's back."
"Wow, that's a surprise," Kourtney said sarcastically. "I wonder what he wants to try to impress you with now?"
"Impress us, you mean?" Nini reminded her.
"Nope, just you. You should know by now Nini, I have about as much interest in skateboard tricks as those two have in learning how to sew."
"Yeah, but that doesn't stop them or me from being impressed by your work." Nini replied.
"Yeah, but I don't look to impress those two, just like I know Ricky hasn't come over to our stand twenty times in the last three days to show me his newest skateboard or bike trick, he comes to show you."
Nini shrugged, "Well, he just knows I'll appreciate them then, because I do since his tricks make him so happy, just like me when I learn how to play a new song."
"I know, but speaking of, I'm going to head to the bathroom quickly while you're both here. This lemonade flows right through me."
"Alright. See you soon Kourt." Nini laughed and Kourtney walked off in the opposite direction that Ricky was pedaling from.
"Nini! Watch this!" Ricky called out again.
"I'm watching Ricky!" Nini shouted back.
Ricky leaned back and lifted against his handlebars, pulling the front wheel back until it was off the ground. He kept pedaling his feet, making sure his bike was maintaining its speed as he made his approach.
"Wow! Great job Ricky!" Nini applauded him. "It's impressive you can keep your balance like that."
"Thanks, I've been practicing!" Ricky shouted, but as he got closer, he suddenly realized that in his excitement from seeing Nini smile at him like that, he was going faster than he intended, and the one part of the trick he hadn't quite mastered yet was how to stop.
Nini kept smiling, she had total faith that he knew what he was doing. She trusted him implicitly, without any second-guessing, which Ricky knew was true just as much as he trusted her the same way. Ricky didn't want to violate that trust, but he started to panic slightly as he wasn't slowing down.
He harshly slammed on his brakes and tried to push the wheel back down to the ground at the same time, but that was a mistake. His back wheel stopped moving, but the bike and he still had way too much forward momentum. He felt himself lose his balance completely and ended up flying over the handlebars right in front of Nini's lemonade stand.
Nini screamed and jumped out of the way in the knick of time, seconds before Ricky and his bike plowed over the cooler, knocking the pitcher and glasses of lemonade to the ground, tearing through the cardboard sign they had hung above, and knocking over the cooler so it spilled all the ice and lemonade inside all over the ground as well.
"Augh." Ricky opened his eyes after a moment and groaned. His helmet, knee, and elbow pads had protected his most important areas but he still felt sore all over, and also wet, sticky, and cold.
"Ricky! Are you ok?" Nini was by his side in an instant. Her worried brown eyes met his dazed hazel.
"I think I am. Are you ok? I didn't hurt you did I?"
"No. I jumped out of the way in time." Nini reached out to gently stroke his face, it already looked like a bruise was starting to form on his cheek. "Mama D!" She shouted out, but Dana had already been running over to them from where she had been seated on a nearby bench.
"Oh, my dears. Nini, Ricky, are you both OK?" Dana asked, closely looking over both kids for any signs of injury.
"Don't worry I'm completely fine. I got out of the way in time. But Ricky crashed!" Nini yelled.
"Yes, I saw what happened. Ricky dear, are you hurt anywhere?"
"I'm sore all over, I think I scraped my arms and legs." Ricky raised his arms and he did indeed have several patches of road rash from sliding along the ground that were already turning red along with some deeper bruising.
"We should get you home, we should have everything we need in the first-aid kit. Nini, can you go find Kourtney and Red? I think it's time for all of us to head home."
"But I can't leave Ricky like this," Nini shouted as her nerves were quickly freaking her out more and more from seeing Ricky so hurt.
"Nina." Dana said, and hearing her real name shocked her, for the past year both her moms only used it when she got into trouble or they weren't open to her arguments about something. "Ricky will be alright for a few minutes, but he needs an adult with him right now. You go find your friends. Now."
"Yes Mama D." Nini nodded her head obediently and ran off in the direction of the skatepark that she knew Red would be at. He was still attempting tricks of his own, but he came to a screeching halt when he saw Nini's distressed expression. She quickly filled him in and he started pedaling his bike away almost as soon as she got out the words that Ricky was hurt.
Nini then ran to the nearest restroom to find Kourtney but Kourtney was already standing about a hundred feet away from their stand and she looked frozen. Nini ran up to her and started explaining everything. "Kourtney, Ricky's hurt, he-"
"He…did Ricky crash into our lemonade stand?" Kourtney asked slowly.
"Yes he did, and he's hurt real bad. Look Red's already with him and Mama D sent me to find you too-"
"Oh no, but Nini, what's going to happen to the butterflies now?" Kourtney sounded distressed.
"What are you talking about?"
"Based on the last two days, we could have made another hundred dollars for the butterflies, but now look, all of our lemonade and cups and all our ingredients are on the ground ruined. Why would Ricky do something like that?"
"He wanted to show me a trick he's been working on, but I don't think it turned out the way he planned."
"You think? Come on, let's go clean up his mess." Kourtney pouted. "It won't be the first time."
Nini followed behind her friend, and let Kourtney's words turn in her head. Was Kourtney right? There was no question that Ricky had crashed their stand, but did that mean he had hurt their goal to do something good just as much as he hurt himself? She knew it was an accident, and Ricky would never do something like that on purpose, but in their friend group, Ricky was the one most accident-prone, mostly because he didn't think before he acted a lot of the time. Her microwaved Barbie was at the top of the list, but it was far from the only instance. Getting balls stuck on the roof at daycare, knocking over her and Kourtney's sand castles, interrupting their games with his and Red's games. Nini had always forgiven Ricky immediately when he apologized before but this was a new situation. Not only was Ricky hurt, but Nini knew with school tomorrow, this was the last day she and Kourtney could hold their lemonade stand.
When they got back to Ricky, Dana, and Red, Ricky was standing up again, still looking slightly dazed and with Dana standing just behind him, watching him like a hawk to make sure he was alright.
"OK girls, I think we're all done at the park for today, so gather what you can that we can take home. Although we can throw away all those used cups." Dana ordered and the three friends worked together to pick up all their remaining supplies and trash, thankfully the small lock box they had been using for their cash register was still locked up tight, but other than two pitchers, a spoon, and a few measuring cups everything else, even their signs had to be tossed in the nearby trash before they all started walking home.
Nini insisted on helping support Ricky by boosting him up and letting him hold onto her over her shoulder. She didn't even mind that she could feel the wetness and stickiness because indeed Ricky was completely drenched in lemonade right now.
Red walked his bike right behind him, Dana was pushing Ricky's bike, and Kourtney had insisted on pulling the wheeled cooler with the few supplies they had remaining inside of it. She still hadn't said anything to Ricky yet, but she had a perpetual pout on her face, Nini was pretty sure she was the only one who noticed.
Nini herself didn't know what to think. Yes, she could admit that part of her was mad at Ricky for destroying their lemonade stand, and as they kept walking, Nini was finally able to calm herself down that he wasn't going to die or anything from this. His weight was pressing down across her shoulders, but his steps were solid, she could tell that much.
When they got home Carol started calling all the parents while Dana took Ricky to the kitchen to get him fixed up with the first aid kit, and to make things easier on everyone, she insisted the kids all wait in the living room.
Both Red and Kourtney asked Nini to explain her version of what Ricky's crash was like, and Nini told them, but she could tell while Red was even more sympathetic to Ricky's pain, Nini's story only made Kourtney more angry.
"I'm telling you Nini, he always does things like this."
"What are you talking about Kourtney?" Nini asked.
"Ricky only thinks about himself. Not us."
"That's not true." Red loyally jumped up. "He thinks of all of us all the time. That's why we always play together at recess."
"OK yes, but he doesn't think about a lot of things until after he crashes, and I don't just mean literally like today. Nini you've got to know what I'm talking about with how much time you two spend together."
Nini chewed her lip worriedly. "OK, I admit, Ricky is much more of a jump first, think later sometimes, but you have to believe me Kourtney, when he does make a mistake he always fixes them."
"That may be true, but I'm not changing my mind until he apologizes to me. Nini, you know he messed our whole plan up, right?"
"Kourtney, it isn't a total loss, we already raised over $100 this weekend, and maybe we could have gotten more today, but we still did something good, and that's something to be proud of, right?"
"Maybe, but what does Ricky have to be proud of? He still ruined a lot of our hard work for no good reason."
"Kourtney I'm sure that once Mama D finishes fixing him up, the first thing he'll do is apologize to both of us, I just know it."
"We'll just have to wait and see." Kourtney kept pouting until Red suggested they all play a game to distract themselves, and so they broke out the Sorry! game that Nini had gotten for her birthday and they were able to mostly forget about their worries for a while during the thrill of the game, but Nini couldn't stop staring at the blue starting area that she knew Ricky should be playing with them. She also kept an ear turned towards the kitchen the whole time, but other than occasional groans from Ricky, or whispered words from her moms she couldn't hear anything specific.
But when they were about fifteen minutes into their game, Ricky slowly walked into the room.
"Ricky!" Nini bounced up, completely forgetting about it being her turn to draw a card, and approached him cautiously. She really wanted to hug him and make sure he was alright, plus reassure herself that he would be fine, but she also couldn't help the sparks of annoyance and anger in her gut over what he had done to their stand. She knew she wasn't as angry as Kourtney was, but she could admit to herself she wasn't happy with Ricky right now. She scanned him over, but avoided looking him in the eyes as she did so. "So, what did Mama D say?"
"She said it was a good thing I wore my helmet. She and Mama C don't think I have a concussion, but I still need to go to the doctor when my parents get here in a few minutes. No broken bones either, just a bunch of scrapes." He held up his arms that were covered in bandages and smelled strongly of Neosporin." Honestly the medicine your mom gave me stings worse than my scrapes felt like before."
"Ricky, don't complain. It's to help make you feel better."
"I know." Ricky nodded, and then spread his gaze to his other friends, but he realized something was wrong with the way Nini was acting all downcast, not looking him in the eye, and Kourtney had her arms crossed and was glaring at him, while Red looked both relieved and worried at the same time. "Hey guys, you don't need to be worried, and Red, you know we've both taken worse tumbles before."
"I know Ricky… I'm glad you're ok but that isn't why I'm worried." Red replied.
"Then what is it?"
"Really? Do you have any idea what you did?" Kourtney finally spoke up and intensified her glare at Ricky.
"Um… I crashed my bike, but thank God I didn't hurt Nini." Ricky turned to Nini, "I would never forgive myself if I hurt you."
"I know…" Nini said quietly, "and I don't want to hurt you either but Ricky," Nini did her best to harden her voice, but still couldn't look at Ricky's eyes. "You crashed into our lemonade stand that we were using to raise money for the butterfly habitat. You spilled all our supplies and we can't raise any more money."
"Exactly. Thank you Nini. And this isn't the first time something like this has happened." Kourtney started on her rant again. "You don't think about how you can affect other people. We wanted to do something good and you ruined it. I'm happy that you look like you're going to be ok, but you haven't even apologized yet."
"Oh," Ricky paused and then walked over to Kourtney. "Kourtney, I'm so sorry for ruining your lemonade stand. You're entirely right, I guess I just really wanted to impress Nini with my new trick, but I didn't have it as mastered as much as I thought I did. That's not an excuse though, I am truly sorry, and I promise I will do my best to be better in the future. Do you forgive me?"
Kourtney gave nothing away, just stared Ricky down silently for a few long moments, but then she finally cracked a smile. "Alright you're forgiven, and next time we do something like this, there will be no bikes or skateboards allowed within 100 feet of whatever thing Nini and I are doing together. Agreed?"
"Agreed." Ricky nodded, "so we're good?"
"Yeah, we are." Kourtney reached out to share a hug with him.
"OK then." Ricky then hurried over to Nini. "Nini. I swear from the bottom of my heart, the last thing I would ever want to do is hurt you, so I am beyond thankful that you're not injured or anything. But I'm so sorry I didn't realize that I did hurt you and Kourtney today by ruining your lemonade stand. Everything you both said was true, I wasn't really thinking about anything beyond making you smile, so it kills me inside to see you looking at me like that, but I know I 100 percent deserve it. I promise Nini, I will do anything it takes to make it up to you, but let me start by saying I am so, so, sorry. If I could take it back I would, your happiness is always even more important than my own, so I just want you to be happy again. I hope you can be, I know you could have done more, but you and Kourtney already did such a good job with your stand. I'm sure all the butterflies we have at school will really appreciate what you've done for them already."
"Just once more, I am sorry Nini."
"Ricky, thank you for the wonderful apology. I forgive you, I will always forgive you as long as you show you understand me and are willing to admit the mistakes you've made. I am beyond happy that you're going to be ok. That's what's most important to me. I know Kourtney was mostly bad at you ruining our stand, which I admit I am a little annoyed by too, but the biggest thing for me is that I don't like seeing you get hurt or getting into trouble either. So please try to be careful and take care of yourself. You can maybe help out me Kourtney on whatever our next project is, but there is one thing I want you to promise me right now."
"I will promise you anything, Nini."
"Promise that when you go to the doctor, you will follow all their directions, and the directions of your parents, and anything Mama D told you. Even if that means no bike riding or skateboarding for a while. I want you to get completely better, understand? I'll accept nothing less."
Ricky paused for a moment, he hadn't even been thinking about having to give up his bike and board, but he had a feeling those decisions, if they came down were going to be out of his control anyway, but he promised himself that he won't argue, that he won't even ask to see his board until the doctor tells him he's healthy again. "For you Nini, like I said, I will promise anything, and I promise you, I won't even look at my bike or skateboard until the doctor or my parents say I can again. I'm not going anywhere Nini, not without you."
"Thank you, Ricky." Nini lunged forward and circled him in a tight hug, some areas of his body stung a little from the tightness of her squeeze and of Nini brushing against his injuries, but he would sooner cut out his tongue than tell Nini that her hug was hurting him. So he grinned happily and melted into the hug to surround her just as much as she was surrounding him, and moments later, as he expected, Kourtney and Red joined in to make it a true group hug.
Nini, like always just melted into the warm feelings welling up inside her chest, she knew Ricky would do his best to keep his promises, and all her best friends would always be united together by their common bonds. How could she not be happy when she could feel the love they all felt for each other when they hugged like this?
Just over two weeks later, the end of the school day was quickly approaching, but for once, Ricky and Nini weren't thinking about their upcoming afternoon that would be spent with just the two of them, they and all the rest of their classmates had a once in a lifetime event on their minds.
Today their class was finally going to release all their butterflies out into the wild so they could continue on their migration down south to Mexico as their class had already learned. Each student's hand was holding a small plastic cup with their butterfly flapping their wings in anticipation too.
Ms. Kleckner had her hands full on a day like today, but she did her best to keep her students focused on the task at hand. "Alright everybody, carefully take off the rubber band holding the netting to the cup. Then take the lid off, the butterfly may fly away immediately or they may stick around for a few minutes. It's ok if it crawls on your hand, but don't touch their wings. They are very fragile ok?"
All the students did their best to follow the instructions, and Ricky, Nini, Kourtney, and Red all had their approaches to the release.
Red's butterfly flew up and away as soon as the lid was off. "Goodbye, Wormy!" Red shouted happily. "Look at him go, he's as fast as I am on a skateboard."
"That may be true but there's no butterfly beautifuler than my Flutter." Kourtney declared, although she took the top off her cup, then set it down on the ground three feet away from herself... Her Flutter may be beautiful, but she didn't want any bugs, not even her own crawling all over her, and after a few minutes, her butterfly took to the air too.
Ricky and Nini though, ended up going at a slower pace. Both of their butterflies crawled from their cup and onto their fingers, so the two of them could look closely at them while smiling and taking in their beauty and the wonder of such a momentous transformation.
"Hey there little guy. It's been great having you in class, but its time for you to be free. Bye Bye Butterfree."
"Butterfree? That sounds like something my mom buys at the grocery store." Kourtney laughed.
"It's the name of a Pokemon," Ricky said proudly. "And Ash had to let his Butterfree go too."
"Really? Why?" Nini asked.
"Because he fell in love with another Butterfree, and they had their migration too so Ash released him."
"Oh, that sounds so sad." Nini pouted, "But you shouldn't be sad Ricky. We know all our butterflies are going to do such great things, and sometimes letting someone go is the best choice you can make."
"You think so?"
"Yeah I do, but one thing is for sure." Nini nudged Ricky with her shoulder since both their hands were full with their butterflies. "None of us are going anywhere unless we're all together right?"
"Yeah!" Her three best friends all cheered, and at their shout, both Nini and Ricky's butterflies began flying into the sky together.
"Hey Nini what did you name your butterfly?" Red asked after a moment.
Nini smiled, "I named it after the most famous caterpillar I know, Heimlich."
"Isn't that the thing you do when someone's choking? My parents have had to do that a few times at the restaurant."
"Well yeah, I think so. But I named him after the caterpillar in Bug's Life."
"So we have Butterfree, Wormy, Flutter, and Heimlich. Do you think they're all going to go to Mexico together?" Ricky asked.
"If they're anything like us, I'm sure they're inseparable," Nini replied as they watched the orange swarm of butterflies disappear into the wind.
