Title track — Machine Gun Kelly

FOR CYNTHIA SARI, THE FIRST DAY BACK AT SCHOOL meant death. She hated school when she was popular, she hated it being an outcast, and as she started to get ready for her day, she knew she'd hate this year more than anything. From her fight with Miguel to Theo kissing her at Moon's party, the girls mind was absolutely scrambled.

She felt like she was living in the Twilight zone.

"Everything okay in there? Your father has to pee!" Bianca yelled, banging loudly on the door.

If Cynthia was honest, she wanted to keep herself locked in the bathroom until the whole school year was over.

"I'm fine, just getting ready." The Sari girl responded, letting a sigh out as she looked at herself into the mirror.

"Well, finish, now. I have to drive you and i'm not going to sit down until I do cause i'll get lazy." Bianca explained before you could hear her footsteps walking off on the wooden floor.

"Fine, fine." Cynthia mumbled to herself, unlocking and swinging the door open.

Her father running into the bathroom right after.

"Ready?" Bianca was already by the door, her purse and sunglasses on, and keys in her hand.

"As ready as i'll ever be."

CYNTHIA THREW HER PHONE INTO HER LAP AS they pulled up to the school. No matter how many texts she sent, Tory wasn't replying, when she usually did and it worried her. She hoped that maybe the blonde was stressed about the first day of school, but she doubted it.

She couldn't even bare to think the girl had been hurt, or arrested.

"I know you don't want to, but you gotta go inside, Cyn." Bianca spoke, parking her car down by the drop-off sidewalk.

"Yeah." The Sari girl blew her hair out of her face as she opened the door. "I'll text you when I get out."

"Okay." The older woman waved as her niece walked away from the car, still wary about what had happened when the girl came from the party.

Cynthia walked toward the front doors on her first day completely alone. A couple months ago, she would have walked in with her friends, best friend, and boyfriend but now? She kinda felt like she had nobody.

All over again.

The Sari girl pushed the front door open, and scattered throughout the main hallway she seen all the people she cared about. Miguel with Aisha at their lockers, Hawk with his gang of fellow Cobra Kais, even Theo settling in for his first day at her school. Yet, none of them would even dare look at her besides Aisha,

Why would they?

"Hey, girl!" The Robinson girl waved and finished her conversation with Miguel to walk over to her. "Ready for today?"

"Honest answer? No." Cynthia shook her head and let out a sigh, both girls laughing in unison.

"I totally get you, I already want to go home." Aisha nodded her head, holding onto the straps of her book bag. "Are you going to walk to class with me and Miguel?"

The Sari girl looked further down the hallway where the Diaz boy stood, solemnly looking at her before she shook her head.

"Nah, I have to go to the bathroom and my locker. I'll catch you later, okay? Save me a seat at lunch." Cynthia smiled lightly, knowing that she should've said yes.

She still didn't know why she said no, even after the events that unfolded later on in the day.

"Okay, I will ." Aisha waved as she walked off, and Cyn held her smile until the Robinson girl and Miguel were far enough away.

So far, her first day back was sucking.

  CYNTHIA TRACED HER FINGER ALONG THE desk, running circles around it as she watched the clock. School was quite literally the last place she wanted to be, especially with all the stupid drama going on. Then, there was the annoying announcements that seemed to be droning on and o—

"You're not supposed to be in here!" That made the girl look up, furrowing her brows in curiosity. "No! No! Give that back!"

"Cynthia Sari. You were supposed to be my friend, and you know what you did. So now, you're gonna pay for it. I'm coming for you, bitch!" There was a long pause as the Sari girls heart dropped, the girl as confused as ever. "and while we're at it, Samantha Larusso, watch your back."

The mic went out, and Cyn could have sworn a bead of sweat went down her forehead as everyone's eyes bore into her.

Then the bell rang.

Cynthia gathered her things together with a sigh, before throwing her bag over her shoulder. She couldn't comprehend what exactly she had done to Tory, they were friends and at the party, they were still friends. As she walked down the hall, she started to think of all the reasons she could possibly be mad and then.

Oh, Theo.

The thought came to her mind as she seen Tory round the corner, anger practically radiating off of her.

"Tor, you don't understand." Cynthia thought of trying to reason with her, then she realized that there would be no reasoning, not after the blonde had gone this far.

"What is there to understand? I saw what you did at the party. You kissed Theo." The Nichols girl snapped, both girls being surrounded by the entire school. "You knew I liked him, and you kissed him anyways."

Oooo's were heard from the crowd around them, and it was obvious nobody was going to help mediate the situation.

"He kissed me, Tory. I swear I wouldn't do any—"

"Shut up. You don't get to make excuses!" The Nichols girl lunged at the Sari one, making her jump backwards and dodge the hit.

"Fine, you want to do this? Let's do this." Cynthia cracked her neck and quickly threw her backpack to the ground, running over to the blonde before she kicked her in the stomach.

"You bitch!" Tory practically growled and kicked Cyn on the side, the other girl retaliating with a punch to the face.

"Stop it!" Sam's voice made Cynthia look up, but it distracted her, allowing the Nichols girl to grab ahold of her shirt, and repeatedly knee her in the stomach.

Now, everyone knew that the Sari girl hated Sam, but she knew that deep down the Larusso girl wasn't bad, or at least not bad enough to deserve what she was getting.

"Just go!" She spoke between kicks, the girl building up her strength so that she could push Tory up against the lockers and pin her there. "You need to stop this, let's just talk."

Theo and Robby came barreling down the hallway at the same time, the two boys seemingly together as they pulled both Cynthia and Tory apart.

Their attempts at peace meant nothing as a group of boys started to run at them for getting in between the fight, the whole hallway turning into a brawl. Cynthia frantically looked around the hall, and in the corner of her eye she seen Miguel and Robby fighting. She then turned to Sam and quickly grabbed her hand, running in the opposite direction.

She didn't want to hurt anyone, and she didn't want to get hurt, so running was seemingly the best option, even if that meant her Sensei would call her a pussy for it later.

"Why are you helping me?" Sam questioned in disbelief as the two girls made it down the hallway, stopping to catch their breath.

"I've been friends with Tory awhile now, and I know that if she gets to you, she's not going to stop hitting you." Cynthia shook her head lightly. "Nobody deserves that."

The two stayed silent after that, hands on their knees as they tried to recoup, until the yelling in the halls got louder, closer.

"Oh, now you're friends with her too. I never should have trusted you." Tory said spitefully, her fists balled as she approached the girls.

"Two seconds ago, you were trying to kill me. Safe to say my loyalty has shifted." Cynthia put her fists up, positioning them in a way so that she could both hit, and dodge the blonde.

"Looks like I wasn't trying hard enough." Tory ran at the Sari girl for what felt like the millionth time that day, her arm held backwards so that she could punch her ex-friend.

Cynthia caught it into her hand and spun the blonde around, holding her arm around the girls throat.

"Guys, this needs to stop." Everyone looked up to see Theo with his hands out, approaching the trio of girls. "I didn't mean for all this shit to happen, okay? Can't we just—"

He was cut off by Hawk running at him, and tackling him to the ground.

"Ahhhh!" Tory screamed, spinning back forward as she pushed Cynthia through the double doors, the mob of fights filing out of the small hallway and into the open area.

The two of them went back and forth, one hit here, one there, both of them dodging, kicking, and hitting, and neither one of them willing to surrender.

"What happened, Tory? You don't want a peace of me anymore?!" Sam asked as she slowly made her way to the steps, the Nichols girl snarling at her as she backed away from Cynthia.

The Sari girl closed her eyes, letting out a shaky breath. All of this was happening because of one stupid drunk kiss, and now the entire school was paying for it. Literally, the entire school.

She was going to run back to help Sam, but then she realized that Theo and Hawk were fighting, and if she was honest, that was more important. The girl ran back frantically through the double doors, and peaked her bead through every single classroom, hoping to find them. Her heart was beating rapidly as she did, not being able to find them anywhere.

Not being able to stop what was happening.

"Think, think, think." She muttered to herself, then her eyes widened as she heard the sound of glass crashing not too far away.

She followed the noise and ended up by the old trophy case, Hawk on the floor and Demetri standing over him. Her mind was split into a million places at once, worried about Hawk bleeding on the ground, proud Demetri was able to stand up to him, but also thinking about where the hell Theo was, and if Sam was doing okay with Tory.

There was too much going on.

"Are you okay?" She asked, looking at her ex boyfriend who simply sent her a glare, shaking his head.

"Like you care." Hawk spat out, pushing himself off the ground.

Cynthia didn't even have time to think about the comment as Demetri tapped her shoulder, looking like he was about to tell her some deathly news.

"He left your friend in the music room down the hall, looks like he knocked him out." The boy informed her, catching his breath. "I'm sorry."

The Sari girl pushed passed him and ran down the hall as quick as she could, eventually finding her way to the music room where Theo was laid on the floor, his face bloody.

"No, no, no." She knelt down onto her knees, placing her hands on his face. "I'm going to call an ambulance and get you help, okay? Just—... just stay awake, Theo."

She turned to run off to the front to find a phone, but the Antonetti boy caught her arm before she could.

"I'm sorry." He breathed out, coughing repeatedly. "I never should have—"

"That's not important right now, okay? Jus—just stay here and i'll get you some help." Cynthia wiped away a tear and stood up, running back out of the room.

She felt like she was quite literally in a whole other world, the amount of violence going around her unbelievable, even for all the karate dojos in the world combined.

"Dem, please keep him awake." Cynthia instructed as she ran past him, not letting the boy say yes or no.

She just kept running towards the front, where she knew a phone would be so that she could get an ambulance, and with all the fights, it seemed like she was going to need to call for a lot.

Her planned halted immediately as she seen her best friend fall down from the top floor, her heart sinking to her feet.

"Miguel!" The way she screamed could have broken a barrier to another dimension, it was full of fear, pain, and every other emotion she could possible feel in that one moment.

She had spent so much time worrying about everyone else, she didn't even think that Miguel would get hurt, he was the one who was the most reasonable, the one who could defend himself against anyone.

Until, well, he couldn't.

Tears gushed down her face as she ran over to him, throwing herself down next to the unconscious boy. He looked so lifeless and she felt like a part of her heart was gone, like it was ripped straight from her chest. Dark thoughts ran through her mind in that moment, at a time she couldn't be positive.

What if her best friend was dead?

CYNTHIA REFUSED TO BE SEEN BY A DOCTOR UNTIL she knew for sure that Miguel was okay. No matter how many people tried to talk her into even the slightest checkup, she didn't want to do it. She needed to focus on being there for her best friend, because she wasn't there for him when he was fighting Robby.

She wasn't there when he needed it most.

Tears fell down her face as she crumpled up in a ball within her seat, memories of all the times she had spent with Miguel running through her brain.

Like when they first met.

"Hi." Cynthia smiled awkwardly as a guy around her age approached the door.

"Miggy, this is Cynthia, Bianca's niece. She's going to be living next door." Carmen smiled sweetly.

"H-...hi, i'm Miguel." The teen extended out his hand for Cynthia to shake.

"Nice to meet you Miguel."

Or the first time they had slushies together.

"What sucked about it? Did Bianca cook again?" Miguel questioned, he really didn't want his friend to have a bad day, especially when he was excited about his.

"I'd rather not talk about it." The Sari girl smiled uncomfortably trying to hide how sad she was. "Are these slushie's on you? Because I am flat broke."

"Of course, when you are with me you'll always have a free slushie." The Diaz boy laughed and opened the door to the store as they got to it.

"What a gentleman, if I didn't know any better i'd say you've brought tons of girls to get slushies." The teen laughed slightly and walked inside.

"Nope, glad you're the first though."

Or when Kyler and his friends beat him up at the Halloween dance.

"Are you okay?" The Sari girl ran over to Miguel and pulled him into a tight hug, which probably wasn't the best idea.

"You-you're crushing me." He said, tapping her back.

"Sorry." Cynthia stepped away apologetically and folded her hands behind her back. "I was just really worried."

... but what really played through her head was their last fight.

"I know a lot of things about you, Cyn. I also know that if you were over there any longer, you'd try to fight them all by yourself." The Diaz boy tried to reason with her, but with all the personal matters she had against the LaRusso's, it was hard to even reason with his friend.

"Why would it matter if I did? I learned karate for a reason, and it wasn't just to sit on my ass." The Sari girl pinched her fingers around the bridge of her nose and shook her head.

She couldn't explain her anger, or maybe she was directing it at all the wrong things, but it was there, and she couldn't care less who she released it on.

Even if it was her best friend.

"Because I don't want you to get hurt for doing something stupid!" Miguel yelled at the girl, a tense silence lasting between them as she shook her head yet again, her left leg shaking back and forth.

"That's my problem, everyone always tries to control me." Cynthia scoffed, and pushed past the Diaz boy, throwing her crushed cup into the garbage.

.. and all she wanted was for him to wake up, so she could apologize.

AUTHORS NOTE—
Bye i'm literally sobbing y'all have no idea. I've come such a long way with this book and Cynthia is genuinely one of my favorite ocs.

Also I haven't edited this yet so ignore my mistakes pls and thx.

Best Cynguel moment ever?

Hope you enjoyed!