Nicki moved around the academy like the living dead after the awful encounter she had with the Alpha which she expected not to go that way. She felt hopeless, dispirited, dejected, and discouraged. There was nothing else left for her to believe in now other than to just accept defeat.
She wasn't going to leave the academy - yay hooray for everyone that ever wished for her plan not to happen, because it was finally not going to.
She settled down in a certain area which she found was the only place comforting enough for the kind of mood she was in. It didn't look like the last place she went to blow off some steam and got herself into trouble. Not too long after she settled there, Noah came out of nowhere to bug her life again.