 ( chapter three )
LAKER GIRLS.

Charlie sprinted across the field as quickly as she could, hoping to be done with drills sooner rather than later. The West Valley girls soccer team was going for a championship this year and Charlie was itching for a win. She'd always loved to run, finding that it helped her clear her head, so when her mom put her into little kid soccer, Charlie found herself in love with the sport.

While she didn't expect to continue with the sport her whole life, she'd always thought it would be cool to at least play till college and then use the sport as a way to stay active as she got older.

"Nice work, Moreno." Coach Benadretti nodded, sending the girl a thumbs up as she slowed to a stop and moved toward her water. "Thanks, Coach." Charlie smiled, facing toward her friend Ariana, or Ari as she took sips of her water. "So are you just trying to make us all look bad? Or does it just come naturally?" Ari laughed, obviously talking about the fact that Charlie had lapped the whole team.

"I like to run." Charlie shrugged, smiling lightly. "And yet she still won't join the track team." Coach Benadretti joked, walking past the two. Ari pointed toward the coach. "She makes a good point."

Charlie rolled her eyes, smile not leaving her face. "You only say that because you're on the track team." Ari nodded immediately. "Yeah, duh. I like winning." Charlie just laughed, shaking her head. "Like mother like daughter." Charlie noted, pointing out the commonality between Coach Benadretti and her daughter.

"Yeah, yeah. So, who are you going to the dance with?" Ari wondered, smiling toward Charlie. "Going with Moon, Yasmine, and Sam. We're gonna be laker girls." Charlie smiled. "I thought you were gonna be Morticia Addams?" Ari replied, confused.

"I was gonna be but they wanted to all go as the same thing." Charlie replied, shrugging. "Interesting." Ari nodded. "Well, how's Lily? You guys obviously still going together, right?" Charlie smiled, watching as Ari blushed at the mere mention of her girlfriend's name. "Yeah, we're going as Harley Quinn and Poison Ivy. Since they were obviously girlfriends." Ari noted.

"Oh, yeah. One hundred percent." Charlie agreed. "Okay, girls. Let's get out on the field! I want to be done sooner rather than later so you all have time to freshen up before classes start!" Coach Benadretti yelled, ready to actually start the practice. "I hate when she uses her coach voice." Ari stated, rolling her eyes as the two made their way back onto the field.

"That's just her regular voice." Charlie laughed. "Yeah, she's loud." Ari agreed, laughing as well. "Charlotte, Ariana, get out here!" Coach Benadretti yelled. "Oh shit, the actual names." Ari spoke, eyes widening.

Charlie just laughed, shaking her head slightly before running toward where her coach and the rest of her team stood waiting.

———————

"Cyberbullying is no laughing matter. Sending a cruel message to someone online can be just as hurtful as saying it to their face. I'm not gonna name names, but the other day a mother called me up because her son was crying after some kids online made fun of his facial deformity." Counselor Blatt spoke, looking around the cafeteria.

Charlie frowned, eyes immediately moving from her phone to Eli as she watched him look around sadly before covering his face while other kids pointed at him. "It's the kid right there." Some girl spoke, trying to whisper but doing it loudly. "I bet it's the kid with the weird lip." A boy theorized.

Charlie rolled her eyes, not understanding people's obsession with how other people looked. The only thing she didn't understand more was why Counselor Blatt would even include that part. She was trying to help, obviously, but it wasn't like many kids were known around the school for having a facial deformity.

"But today, our goal here is to make this school a safe space for all students." Counselor Blatt continued before Charlie completely turned her out, opting to scoot closer to Moon and watch the videos she was watching on her phone. Charlie leaned her head on the girls shoulder, kicking her feet up on the table as she got comfortable.

"One last thing. While we're all looking forward to the Halloween dance, let's make sure our costumes are culturally sensitive. For example, instead of "sexy nurse," maybe try "gender-neutral hospital employee." Instead of a geisha be a successful marketing executive." Counselor Blatt finished, though she began listing off costume ideas as kids laughed in her face.

Charlie looked up slightly as Aisha scooted her hair toward the table, smiling excitedly toward Sam. "Hey! I got a great idea for our costumes this year." Charlie watched as Sam's face fell. "Um..."

"I was thinking I go as sodium, and you go as chloride. And when people ask what we are, we do this." Aisha smiled, grabbing the salt shaker off the table and pouring some out. Charlie chuckled lightly, it was honestly pretty clever. She just felt bad Sam hadn't brought up the groups already decided costume before this.

Yasmine smirked, looking at the two. "What is that, some dumb inside joke you guys have?" Aisha gave her a bit of a look, laughing. "I mean, it's not really "inside." Sodium chloride is table salt." Charlie watched as Yasmine's face dropped, biting down on her lip. "Yeah, I was kidding." Yasmine tried to save, looking away.

"We actually decided to go as Laker Girls." Sam admitted, sending her friend a sad look. "Oh." Aisha responded, nodding slightly. "But maybe we could order another." Sam thought, wanting to try and include Aisha any way she could.

"They're one-size-fits-all, which suddenly seems like false advertising." Yasmine laughed, jumping in immediately to stop Sam from inviting Aisha any further. Charlie just rolled her eyes, looking at her phone again as Moon laughed from beside her.

Aisha just moved away from the table, leaving Sam sitting there watching her.

Charlie looked up when she felt eyes on her, sticking her tongue out immediately as she made direct eye contact with Miguel. The boy just rolled his eyes, ushering her over. Charlie groaned lightly, taking her feet off the table. "I'll be right back."

She moved to the other side of the cafeteria, taking a seat beside Eli as she looked at Miguel, eyes widening. "What?"

"Okay, two things. One, I wanted to know if you had any interest in joining a karate dojo. And two, I was hoping you could join and convince these guys to as well." Miguel spoke honestly. "Shouldn't you be able to convince them easier than I should?" Charlie wondered, looking at Demetri and Eli.

"No, you're a girl. You hold power." Miguel explained. Charlie laughed a bit before her smile dropped as she just watched Demetri nod along. "He's right, we're weak."

"Wait, is this the same karate neighbor you have? You're seriously giving this dude money just to get your ass kicked?" Charlie wondered. "Point proven." Demetri spoke, pointing to the girl. "I'm not just getting my ass kicked. Sensei Lawrence is making me stronger and tougher." Miguel groaned. He both hated and appreciated how much the girl wanted to protect him, though in the moment he just wished she'd come see the dojo for herself to understand why he thought it was such a good idea.

Charlie sighed, shaking her head. "Sorry, Diaz. I've already got enough going on with soccer but if this goes anywhere I'm always down to come support. I'll see you boys later." Charlie moved back toward her own table, leaving the three at that.

"You know what's not fair? The fact that she's hot, and nice to us. It's too confusing." Demetri spoke, staring forward toward Charlie. "I really need you to stop calling her hot in front of me." Miguel frowned, looking toward Demetri disgusted. "I'm just telling you now if she keeps talking to us I'm going to fall in love." Demetri shrugged.

"Do not fall in love." Miguel shot back immediately. "I'd say tell her to be rude to us, but that would just make it worse. There's a reason I've always found Yasmine to be perfect." Demetri gushed. "Seriously stop talking." Miguel stated, sending the boy a look.

Demetri just shook his head. "Eli agrees with me." Eli's eyes widened, cheeks growing a shade darker. "Don't rope me in with this." Demetri just rolled his eyes, waving the boy off. "Ignore him, he's lying."

Miguel just shook his head, hitting it down against the table. He really hated how often they were having this conversation.

———————

The dance was in full swing as Charlie walked in with Moon, Yasmine, and Sam at her side. Three out of four of them were dressed in a purple laker girl outfit while Yasmine wore yellow, something Charlie had laughed at. She knew Yasmine always liked to be front and center but this was a new way to remind people Charlie hadn't thought she'd think of.

"Come on, let's dance." Moon smiled, grabbing Charlie's hand and pulling her into the crowd. Sam and Yasmine followed, the four dancing together as they all looked around happily. Charlie suddenly met the gaze of Miguel, seeing him in a costume far different than the one he'd told her about.

"Hey, where'd the costume that Rosa made go?" Charlie wondered, smiling lightly as she ran over to the boy, finding him beside Eli and Demetri. "Sensei told me I was poor man, not Spiderman when I explained the concept and let me use this instead." Miguel replied. "Oh." Charlie replied, nodding slightly.

"What are you guys meant to be?" She wondered, turning to Demetri and Eli with a small smile. Charlie shot Miguel a look as the boys just stared at her, suddenly remembering teenage boys inability to act normal. "Guys." Miguel snapped, looking at them warningly.

"Uh, Necromancer." Demetri spoke, eyes staying glued to the girl. "Plastic surgeon." Eli spoke fast, now avoiding the girls gaze. She couldn't tell which one she disliked more, the staring or the avoiding. "Um... cool. I'm gonna... go now." Charlie nodded, pointing backwards before quickly walking off.

Miguel sighed, looking at his friends. "You guys know that she's not just some object for you to stare at, right? The more you freak her out and the more you avoid even making eye contact the less she's gonna try to get to know you guys. You're freaking her out."

"Shit." Demetri sighed, looking forward. He very obviously wasn't great with girls, never really knowing when the line between loser and creep was drawn. He'd never expected one of the popular girls to ever look at him, let alone make the effort to befriend him and now he was worried he'd ruined it before it even started.

Eli frowned from behind his mask, looking down. "Sorry, man." He spoke quickly. Miguel looked between the two, frowning. "Look, I'm sorry too. I should make the effort to let you guys all get to know each other better. I'll ask her to join us for lunch one day if you guys are cool with it, just, please act normal. Charlie's cool, just give her a chance."

"We know she's cool, that's the problem. Cool people don't usually socialize on this side of the room." Demetri frowned, motioning to the way the gym was separated. "It's just all a bit new, but, I'll try to remember that she isn't just on a real world tv anymore."

Miguel didn't fully know how to answer that, just watching as Eli nodded in agreement. "Cool."

Charlie laughed as Brucks stood before the girls, doing some weird dance while dressed as Mr. Smee from Peter Pan. It made sense that he'd be the Smee to Kyler's Hook, the rest of their friends being the pirate crew. Charlie couldn't think of a better costume for the boys.

Sam and Kyler split off slightly from the group and danced together, Yasmine, Moon, and Charlie jokingly "Ooh"ing their way before the three danced together. Moon spun Charlie around, the other girl smiling as she wrapped her arms around her friend's shoulders while Moon placed her hands on Charlies waist.

They both moved along to the music, laughing slightly as Yasmine just rolled her eyes at the two. "You're both so lame." Charlie smiled, looking past Moon to look at Yasmine. "Awe, come on, Yas. No need to be jealous, we can always squeeze you in."

Yasmine scoffed, crossing her arms over her chest. "As if." Charlie just smiled wider, meeting Moons eyes again as the girl was already looking at her. "Wait, this is the perfect moment to film for my channel." Moon gasped, taking both her arms off Charlie's waist before wrapping one back around her as the other girl laid her head on Moons shoulder, keeping her arms around her shoulders.

"Yas, get in." Moon smiled, holding her phone out as the three all smiled at the camera. Moon scanned around for a moment for Sam, finding her talking with Aisha. "Hey, Sam, come over. We're gonna film something and then go live."

"Get your ass over here." Yasmine added. "One second." Sam laughed, smiling as she looked at the three.

Charlie stuck her tongue out at the camera, turning her head slightly and pretending to poke Moons cheek with her tongue. The brunette girl laughed, pulling Charlie closer as the girl put her tongue back in her mouth and felt Yasmine wrap her arms around her.

Sam quickly joined the three, coming up on Moons other side as the boys joined as well, one of Kyler's friends holding the phone after Moon changed the app to go live.

"Live!" Charlie shouted immediately once the live started, everyone around her laughing slightly while they all just stood there making faces. They didn't exactly have anything to do on live, but they stayed on until Kyler pulled Sam away, saying he had a surprise for her.

"Charlie! Come here!" Miguel yelled, ushering the girl over. Charlie smiled, looking toward Moon and Yasmine. "I'll be back, again."

She quickly ran over, smiling at the boy as he stood by the wall with Demetri and Eli. "What's up?" She didn't look toward the two boys, not wanting to put herself in another uncomfortable position. "Well, first..." Miguel spoke, looking toward the two boys.

Demetri sighed. "I wanted to speak for the both of us and say we're sorry for being weird around you. I don't think it would shock you to know not many girls speak to us so we don't know how to handle when one does. We, uh, we were hoping we could start over." Charlie smiled, not even being able to hide how happy that had made her. "That was so sweet, thank you."

"Yeah, uh, yeah." Demetri replied awkwardly. Charlie laughed slightly, obviously them wanting to start over didn't end the awkwardness the boy found in every situation. "And with that, we were wondering if you'd be down to join us for lunch tomorrow? I want to cash in on the offer." Miguel smiled.

Charlie nodded immediately, looking between the three. "Sounds fun." Miguel smiled, nodding. "Great, now... what I really wanted you to come over here for. Ta-da." He spoke, now obviously talking to them all as he pointed at the new flying plastered on the wall.

Charlie felt her heart drop, seeing the flyer for Cobra Kai karate, led by the very man Yasmine had hit the car of. "You okay?" Miguel wondered, noticing how Charlie's face dropped. She nodded, trying to smile again. "Y—Yeah. Great, this is your neighbor?"

"Yeah, this is Sensei. He's actually somewhere around taping up flyers, you should meet him." Miguel smiled excitedly. "No thanks." Charlie spoke immediately, forgetting that Miguel did not have the context she did. "I mean... I don't think it's necessary, I don't want to join a dojo."

Miguel frowned. "Come on, Sensei's a cool guy. Just come say hi." Charlie shook her head, sending Miguel a serious look. "I'm good." He sighed, nodding. "Okay, okay." Miguel spoke, understanding not to push it anymore. He still wanted her to meet the man sooner or later, but he supposed he could wait a bit longer.

"You three have fun looking at this flyer, I'm gonna go back to the dance." Charlie smiled, speedily walking away from the boys. "Is she okay?" Eli wondered, watching. "I don't know, I hope so." Miguel replied, watching as well. He didn't understand why she shut down upon seeing Sensei Lawrence, but he wanted to find out.

When Charlie got back to Moon and Yasmine, she immediately connected her arm with Moons, smiling at the girl. "What's been going on over here?" Charlie wondered. "Oh, you'll see." Yasmine smirked, looking forward. Charlie frowned, not understanding as Sam came back over to the girls obviously upset. "Hey, can we get out of here, please?"

"Not yet. Wait for it." Yasmine spoke. Charlie felt her phone buzz, other people's ringers going off as well at the same time. She looked down, opening the link Yasmine had obviously mass sent.

What was inside was not something Charlie wanted to be apart of, seeing the pig nose filter on Aisha's face while a video of her eating Cheetos played on loop, the words "The Buffet Table is Under Attack!!!!" On the screen as well.

Charlie looked around as people began looking toward Aisha, the whole dance blowing up in a fit of laughter at the girl. Charlie looked forward, mortified as she saw the look on Aisha's face. "Yo! Cheeto pig! Cheeto pig!" A boy laughed, cackling as everyone else laughed.

Charlie watched Yasmine mockingly wave Aisha away after the girl ran off, not liking how this night was turning out.

"Yas, you shouldn't have done that." Charlie frowned, removing herself from Moons grasp. "Oh, lighten up. It's hilarious!" Yasmine replied, sending the girl a look. "Are we done here?" Sam wondered, crossing her arms over her chest. "Yeah, I think we've been here long enough." Yasmine decided.

The three girls began moving, stopping as they looked back at Charlie when she didn't. "Are you coming?" Yasmine wondered, cocking an eyebrow in the girls direction. Charlie bit her lip, considering her options. She knew Yasmine had done worse, but she also knew how quickly the school moved on from things like this. She didn't know if this incident was worth losing all her friends.

"Yeah, coming." Charlie nodded, feeling the pit in her stomach grow as she felt disgusted by her own choice. "Charlie!" A new voice suddenly yelled, Demetri and Eli running toward the girl in a panic. "What's wrong?" Charlie wondered, turning her attention away from the girls as they stared at her. "Miguel. Bathroom. Bad." Demetri gasped out, trying to catch his breath.

"I'll see you guys tomorrow." Charlie told the girls, running off with Demetri and Eli following behind her to direct the girl to the correct location. Sam frowned, watching as the girl ran off. "I don't think we should leave without her, something bad might have happened."

"Let's just... wait in the car." Moon decided, anxiously looking to where Charlie had run off. "We can't just leave her here."

Charlie sprinted toward the boys locker room, Demetri and Eli behind her. Upon entering Charlie felt her stomach drop, seeing the back of the man from the hit and run. But that wasn't the worst of it as she looked down, catching the sight of Miguel on the ground bloodied and wheezing.

"Oh my god." Charlie cried, hand shakily reaching to cover her mouth. The man, Mr. Lawrence, turned around, looking at the girl confused as she didn't recognize her or the two boys stood behind her.

Charlie just moved past the man, bending down in front of the boy as his body shook uncontrollably. "Miguel, you're gonna be okay. We're gonna get you home." Charlie promised. Johnny Lawrence looked at the girl, assuming she had to be his sister or cousin or something. He moved forward, sweeping the boy up carefully in his arms. "I'll get him home."

Charlie wanted to scream. While she didn't know exactly what happened, she could guess that Miguel trying to defend himself using whatever this guy taught him only got him into the position he was in now.

She felt like she couldn't even speak, only shakily standing before darting toward Eli, not even caring or stopping to think as she hid her face into the boy. His eyes widened, sending Demetri a look. Demetri only shrugged, motioning for the boy to comfort the girl. He nodded, slowly wrapping his arms around her and placing his hand on the back of her head, hopefully keeping her from seeing Miguel like that again as the man carried the boy out.

After a moment Charlie took a few steps back, wiping her eyes. "S—Sorry. I... I gotta go." She spoke, turning on her heel and trying to find the man again. "Hey!" Charlie yelled upon seeing him, running right past Moons car as the three girls watched her nervously. They hadn't seen the man, but they didn't know why Charlie would just run past them.

She stopped in front of him as he carefully placed Miguel in the back, staring the man in the face. "I'm coming with you."

AUTHORS NOTE!
I would just like to make it known that I canonically have decided moon and charlie were each others first kisses and taught each other how to kiss because gfs!!! I have to hold back from the urge to put them together ONLY because I already have plans for moon with someone else but we will see if i can stay strong

but like I said gfs bc moon and charlie 4L

also I keep almost writing syd instead of charlie and it just makes me sad I miss my bbg