FOUR.
( bitches get buried. )

"I'm so excited you're here!" Jennifer hiked her backpack higher on her shoulders as Tory picked out a drink from the mini-market fridge. "Kicking ass with you is gonna be so much fun."

"I don't doubt it," Tory chuckled, closing the fridge door. "You doing anything after this?"

"Uh..." Jennifer looked up in thought. "No, I don't think so. Why?"

Tory wrapped an arm around her shoulder, slowly walking them down the aisles. "Seriously? We haven't hung out in forever. Your karate freaks are taking up all your time."

Jennifer playfully rolled her eyes. "They're cool freaks. I think you'd fit in with them."

"Yeah, right," Tory scoffed. "Like I'd get close with people like them."

They both heard a sigh of despair and turned, seeing Aisha looking down at her phone.

"Let me guess. Dick pic?" Tory asked as they stopped in front of her.

Aisha gave a short laugh. "No. My mom wants me to go to the beach club with her."

"Oh my God, that sounds so miserable," Tory sarcastically said, her and Jennifer laughing to themselves.

"Why don't you wanna go?" Jennifer asked, coming down from her laugh. "I love the beach club. The mocktails are really good."

"No. It's just..." Aisha sighed. "This girl Sam's probably gonna be there, and she and I are not on good terms."

"Sam who?" Jennifer furrowed her eyebrows.

"LaRusso," Aisha answered.

Jennifer's face lit up in recognition. "Oh! She's a nice girl. She let me borrow her jacket after I spilled milk all over myself in 8th grade."

Aisha then furrowed her eyebrows. "You like Sam?"

"Uh," Jennifer glanced at Tory who shrugged. "I mean, I don't have a reason not to. It's not like we're close or anything."

"You don't know?"

"Know what?"

"Did Miguel ever tell you why he and Sam broke up?"

"No," Jennifer was starting to get worried. "Did she do something to Miguel?"

Aisha didn't know how to put this lightly. "JJ, he thought that Sam was cheating on him with..."

She couldn't finish her sentence, glancing over at Tory who seemed to already understand what she was trying to say. But Jennifer, whose mind was already running at an unimaginable speed, didn't understand. "With who?"

Aisha thickly swallowed. "With Robby."

"What?"

Jennifer's face was quick to drop. "Robby? My ex-boyfriend Robby?"

"Yeah," Aisha lightly winced.

"No," Jennifer immediately shook her head. "No way. Cause then that would mean that he cheated on me and he would never do that."

"Did you know that they were training together?"

"I ─ No, but ─ Robby would never do that. I mean, sure, he broke up with me in the most asshole way possible but he would never get with someone else behind my back," Jennifer continued to defend him. But then, there was a small seed of doubt that formed in her stomach, and she instinctively turned to Tory. "Right?"

"Of course he wouldn't," Tory immediately reassured her, but then she shared a glance with Aisha.

Jennifer caught the small glance between them and let out a deep sigh. Her shoulders deflated as her face became sad.

Aisha pressed her lips tightly together, feeling a sudden urge to punch a teenage boy. "You two doing anything?"

"We were just gonna go to JJ's house," Tory pointed out.

"Do you have something else in mind?" Jennifer asked.

Aisha felt her lips quirk up. "Do you guys wanna go to the beach club with me?"

✸

"Someone kill me."

Aisha and Tory's heads snapped to the right, seeing Jennifer staring out below them with an upset look on her face. They followed her line of sight and caught what she was looking at.

Sam LaRusso and Robby Keene lying on beach chairs, faces bright with smiles as they laughed together.

Aisha placed a comforting hand on her shoulder. "I'm sorry, JJ."

"I just don't get it," Jennifer said in disbelief. "You give a boy all the love in the world for an entire year and he goes and gets with his new daddy's daughter."

"Okay, that just sounds weird," Tory sighed, forcibly turning her to face the other two girls. "Stop torturing yourself. You're here to have fun and get shitfaced."

Jennifer deadpanned at her. "You know I don't take alcohol well."

Tory chuckled. "We'll go get you something. Wait here."

"Don't have anywhere else to go," Jennifer mumbled, watching as the two girls walked away to a nearby table. She turned back around to look at those two beach chairs, but her eyes widened as they connected with another pair.

The two stared at each other for what felt like decades, one with betrayal and hurt, and the other with remorse and shame. Sam was lying beside Robby, unaware of the two glances that were happening right next to her.

Jennifer didn't want to believe that Robby would do anything to intentionally hurt her. She truly believed that he loved her and cherished her like she cherished him. But she was watching him with this other girl, and his body language said it all.

She just wanted to know how long this had been going on.

"Hey!"

Jennifer nearly jumped out of her skin and whipped around, seeing Aisha holding a plate of food and Tory holding a cup of blue liquid.

"We got you a little something to cheer you up," Tory stated, handing her the cup while Aisha placed the plate on a nearby table.

"Thanks," Jennifer sighed, taking a strong gulp of the drink before immediately pulling the cup away from her mouth and grimacing. "Ugh! What is that? It feels like I'm drinking hand sanitizer."

Tory placed a hand on her shoulder. "All you need to know is that I should not be a bartender when I grow up."

Jennifer stared at her blankly for a second before chugging the rest of the blue drink, ignoring the burning feeling and bitter taste in her mouth. She gulped down every last bit before slamming it down onto the table and picking up the plate full of food. "Let's go for a walk."

Tory and Aisha glanced at each other before their faces burst into grins and they wrapped their arms around the Asian girl.

✸

Aisha underestimated Jennifer when she said she couldn't handle her alcohol. Her face scrunched up as she snatched the cup away from her friend. "Okay, that's enough for you."

Jennifer huffed through her nose, giving a pout. "You're no fun."

"And you're shitfaced," Aisha raised her eyebrows. "Come on. Let's go get you some food."

"But I already ate," Jennifer frowned, the other girl dragging her over to the food table. "I had my daily carb intake."

"You eat carbs all the time," Aisha pointed out, looping her arm through Jennifer's to keep her at her side while grabbing a paper plate.

"I do not," Jennifer denied before pausing. "Wait, is potato a carb?"

"Okay, I am never letting you drink again," Aisha shook her head with a chuckle. She then did a double take when she saw someone from the corner of her eye, and she quickly looked away with a sharp inhale.

"Hey," Sam greeted her with a friendly smile.

"Hey," Aisha said shortly.

"Hi," Jennifer greeted her back with a lazy smile.

"So," Sam began awkwardly, eyeing the girl Aisha practically had a death grip on. "How's it going?

Aisha scoffed. "You realize we're not ok."

Sam sighed. "What are you mad about? You guys are the ones who stomped all over our Valley Fest demo."

"Only after your father attacked our dojo. What were we supposed to do?"

"He didn't attack you guys."

"No? "Snake in the grass"? Real subtle."

"Wait," Jennifer slowly spoke up, her mind only now letting her catch up to the conversation happening next to her. "You're Sam, right? Robby's new girlfriend?"

Sam straightened up, eyes wide. "Oh, I ─ we're not dating."

The Jung girl squinted her eyes at the girl, leaning closer as she rested her arm on Aisha's shoulder. "Pretty sure you're the girl he left me for."

Jennifer's words seemed to shake Sam a bit as her face dropped. "Left you for? You guys were together?"

Aisha furrowed her eyebrows. "You didn't know? They dated for, like, a whole year and then he broke up with her because of Miyagi-Do."

"I didn't..." Sam trailed off, lightly shaking her head.

Jennifer then clamped her hand down on Aisha's shoulder, startling the girl. "What?"

"I don't feel so good," Jennifer grumbled.

"Oh, shit," Aisha panicked, handing Sam the plate of food. "Uh, can you go wait by a table? I have to take her to the bathroom."

"Uh, yeah, sure," Sam was barely given any time to respond as Aisha wrapped an arm around Jennifer and rushed her to the closest bathroom. She thickly swallowed as she glanced over the railing, seeing Robby innocently sunbathing on a chair.

She shook her head at herself before walking to a tall table and placing the plate down.

✸

"Don't let me drink again," Jennifer groaned, her head resting on the table.

Aisha chuckled at her while Sam just felt uncomfortable. She had seen Jennifer and Robby together, but she had assumed that they were just friends as he had never mentioned a girlfriend.

"Hey!"

They turned to see Tory walking towards them. "Look what I got."

She flashed them a whole bottle of vodka she had stuffed in her bag and Jennifer let out an immediate groan. "No! No more drinking. I'm trying to be sober."

"Where'd you get that?" Aisha asked in surprise.

"I swiped it from the bar," Tory cheekily smiled. Aisha and Sam shared a look while Jennifer was seconds away from curling up on the floor. "Oh, relax. All the adults, and JJ, are getting wasted. No one's gonna notice if we have a little fun."

"No," Jennifer protested. "No more fun. Fun gives you headaches."

Sam sighed. "You should put that back. You'll get into big trouble."

Tory almost laughed in disbelief. "And you are?"

"Oh. Sam, this is Tory. Tory, Sam," Aishe quickly introduced them.

"Oh," Tory gave a devious look. "So you're the girl who stole my best friend's boyfriend."

"Tory," Aisha gave the girl a warning look.

"I didn't steal her boyfriend," Sam defended herself.

"It's alright, Tor," Jennifer sighed, pushing past Aisha and Sam. "She didn't know. And don't worry about the alcohol, no one's gonna miss it."

"Exactly," Tory slugged her arm across her shoulder. "I could swipe half the silverware in this place before anyone would notice."

"You shouldn't steal anything," Sam retorted before her eyes moved to Jennifer. "And aren't your parents lawyers? Shouldn't you be against this?"

"It's a beach club," Jennifer said. "I think they have more concerns than a few teens taking a bottle of alcohol that they probably have ten bottles of in the kitchen."

Sam pressed her lips together, her gaze drifting to the side.

"Come on, are we gonna drink or not?" Tory asked.

Aisha bit her lip in contemplation, looking at Sam like she was the angel on her shoulder, but then she met Tory's eyes. "Ok, one drink."

"Oh, you guys are drinking," Jennifer laughed. "I'm gonna go stuff my face with those red velvet cupcakes right there."

"I know how to make a red velvet drink, you know," Tory said as they walked away.

Jennifer gave an excited gasp. "Really?"

✸

Jennifer groaned as her hand pressed against her stomach. "I'm never eating cupcakes again."

The two girls giggled at their friend. "We told you not to eat all of them."

"They were good!" the girl whined, groaning as she pushed herself onto her feet. "I'm gonna go walk it off. Call me if you need me."

She didn't wait to hear their response, already walking away towards the beach. Her feet dragged beneath her as she stretched her arms above her head, letting out a deep breath as she stretched out her limbs.

As she got closer and closer to the beach, she felt her heart squeeze.

It was at this exact beach that she met Robby.

Robby.

God, she loved him so much.

She let out a shaky sigh as she remembered where they stood and what he had said. How someone could go from loving you with all of their being to crushing your heart 24 hours later was something she would never understand. Did he lack simple human empathy?

She understood that he wanted a fresh start, a life away from what he had been a part of for so long. But he couldn't have included her? Could he not see a plausible future with her in his life? Was she really holding him back?

She scoffed to herself as she felt the tears well up in her eyes, quickly sniffling to rid herself of the emotions she had already gone through. It still hurt.

"Jen?"

Jennifer didn't need to turn around to see who was approaching her. His voice was too hard to forget. She gave an audible scoff, crossing her arms over her chest. "What do you want, Robby?"

He shrugged. "I can't talk to you?"

She turned to him, face full of disbelief. "You broke up with me. I think that answers everything."

Robby sighed. "Look, I really am sorry for how things ended."

"You told me that you won't regret breaking my heart," she told him, reminding him of what happened during Valley Fest. "Why? Because I joined Cobra Kai?"

"I know you did it to go against me," he said.

"Maybe I did," she shrugged. "But you betrayed me first."

Robby deeply sighed. "I know the breakup was sudden ─ "

"I'm not talking about the breakup," Jennifer cut him off.

His eyebrows knitted together. "What are you talking about then?"

"You know," she took a step closer to him. "I always put you up on this pedestal. I told everyone that you would never do anything to hurt me. But you did it in the worst way possible."

"I don't follow," he shook his head.

"I know that you and Sam have been close since you met. Which is while we were dating," she told him. "I also know that while you were getting uncomfortably close to her, you failed to ever bring up the fact that you had a girlfriend. Even when you were out with me, you never said I was your girlfriend."

Robby knew he couldn't claw his way out of his and his posture deflated. "Jen..."

"That's, like, full-blown micro-cheating, Robby," Jennifer huffed. "Not to mention you never even told me that you two were friends or that you were training with her."

"Nothing ever happened with her," Robby tried.

"But you wanted something to," Jennifer cut in. "And don't try to deny it because I'm not stupid."

Robby looked down, not sure what to say.

"You fell for her, didn't you?"

The question made his head snap up, and his mouth opened to respond, but even he knew that he couldn't deny that. "I..."

"You fell for another girl while you were with another girl," Jennifer sounded out for him. "You told another girl how much you loved her every day while you had your eye on someone else. That sucks, Robby."

"I know."

"Do you? Do you know? Because from where I see it, you didn't give a shit. Even now! Everywhere you go, she's with you. It's like you don't care despite you chatting the fuck out of my ear and saying you do."

"I care about you, Jen," he quietly. "More than you'll ever know."

"You sure have a weird way of showing it," she said before turning her back on him and walking back to the club. But once she started walking, she felt her eyes start to burn again.

She walked around the club, trying to find her friends while trying to keep her tears at bay. A loud crash caught her attention, and her legs carried her over to the dessert table. She could see Sam lying on a fallen table, completely covered in sugary treats. "Oh my God."

Tory and Aisha both turned to her, immediately seeing her aching face. "JJ, what happened?"

"I just wanna leave," she said, eyes staying on Sam who looked embarrassed.

"Let's go. Come on," Tory grabbed her arm and pulled her away from the scene. "What happened?"

Jennifer shook her head. "Robby happened."

✸

Jennifer would spend the rest of the evening in her bed, scrolling through photos she had taken during the last couple of weeks of her and Robby's relationship.

They looked so happy together. Truly in love and infatuated with one another.

Tears escaped her eyes and onto her pillow, as she looked at these memories, remembering when she had spent every second of every day with this boy. How could you look at someone with so much love only to rip their heart out the next day? How could anyone look their partner in the eye and describe their future together while they went and fell for someone else? Where was Jennifer's respect and love? Why couldn't she have that?

She heard her doorbell ring once, but she made no move to open the door. She figured it was just someone trying to sell her something so she ignored it. But then it rang again, and again, and again, and again.

Her nostrils flared in irritation and she lifted her blanket off of her before climbing out of bed. She walked down the stairs with heavy steps, her sweatpants dragging across the floor. She felt like a zombie these days.

Jennifer opened the door, pausing at the sight of the person on the other side. "What are you doing here?"

Hawk looked awkward as he tucked his hands into his hoodie, his plaid pajama pants flowing to the right from the breeze. "Aisha called me. She said something about you being upset and wanted me to check on you since I'm right next door."

"Of course she did," Jennifer sighed, running a hand through her hair. "Wanna come in?"

"Sure," he spoke briefly before stepping into the house, immediately smelling a warm aroma. "Did you bake something in here?"

"Huh? Oh, no. Mrs. Crawford, across the street, gave me some cinnamon buns earlier. I ate them all so don't ask for any," Jennifer shut the door and locked it.

"I wasn't going to," Hawk said, chuckling to lighten the atmosphere. Then, he took a seat on one of her kitchen island stools. "How was the beach club?"

Jennifer flopped onto the soft couch, deadpanning at him. "Don't act like you don't know."

He sighed, leaning back against the counter. "Do you wanna talk about it?"

"There's nothing to talk about," she shut him down before grabbing a pillow and placing it on her lap. "And even if there was, I wouldn't talk to you about it."

"I thought we were cool," his eyebrows furrowed. 

"We are," she pinched the bridge of her nose. "You just wouldn't get it."

"Why not? Because I'm in a relationship?"

"A relationship where you know that your partner won't lie to your face for God knows how long," Jennifer snapped. 

Hawk frowned. "What'd he lie about?"

"Eli ─ " Jennifer stopped herself from snapping again, squeezing her eyes shut. "Look, thanks for checking up on me, but the last thing I need right now is getting my snot and tears all over this pillow."

She expected him to reel back in disgust, but the boy just shrugged and stepped off the stool. "I wouldn't care if you cried."

Jennifer felt her eyebrows knit together as she watched take a seat next to her on the couch. "Being overly nice doesn't suit you. Like, at all."

He rolled his eyes. "You're my friend, JJ. And friends listen to each other when they need to."

She pressed her lips together tightly, staring down at the pillow in her lap. "I didn't even know she did karate."

Hawk stared at her. "What do you mean?"

"Sam," she turned to him. "Robby never told me that they trained together. Or how they were getting closer and closer every day. Or how somewhere along the line, he started to like her. But he still spent every day with her, even though he knew he liked her, and he had a girlfriend."

Hawk softly huffed through his nose. "He's an asshole."

Jennifer scoffed, angry tears forming in her eyes. "No kidding. You know, sometimes I wondered if he was ashamed of me or something."

"Why would he be ashamed of you?" Hawk asked, digging into his pant pocket and pulling out a pack of tissues. He figured that if Jennifer decided to open up to him he would need them. 

She gave him a grateful look as she took the small pack of tissues, placing them on top of the pillow. "Guys don't look at me and find me interesting, or attractive, or worthy of their attention. I mean, I spend all my time on worksheets and practice problems and I've practically been made fun of my entire life."

Jennifer tearfully laughed at herself. "He never told anyone about me. But I hoped that if he was ever in a situation like this, then he would take a step back, but, he just kept walking."

Hawk stared at her with sympathy. "I know what I think probably means nothing to you, but, I think you're interesting. I mean, both of your parents are lawyers and you're, like, the smartest person I know."

Jennifer chuckled, wiping the tears from her eyes. "You think so?"

"I know so," he cheekily said back. 

She scoffed out a laugh, but the smile on her face was noticeable. "You're the stupidest person I know."

"I guess I'm that then," he smiled, watching as she laughed again. 

Jennifer tearfully smiled at him in gratitude. "Thanks for checking up on me."

He nudged her with his shoulder. "Anytime. You know where to find me."

"Good night, Eli," she muttered. 

He stood up from the couch. "Good night, JJ."

✸ AUTHOR'S NOTE ! 

i find it so crazy that I have write robby like a bad guy in this as if he isn't my man