**Alma Terziç and Abdelatif Hwidar as Pilar and Dominic Dominguez, as recurringly mentioned

𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘴𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥'𝘷𝘦 𝘩𝘦𝘦𝘥𝘦𝘥 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘸𝘢𝘳𝘯𝘪𝘯𝘨𝘴.

𝘣𝘦𝘤𝘢𝘶𝘴𝘦 𝘪𝘧 𝘪 𝘧𝘢𝘭𝘭, 𝘪'𝘮 𝘵𝘢𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘮𝘦.

TRI

—IT was five hours past midnight. Santiago was up early to get ready for school. He hadn't slept at all that night, instead being up in a haze. His mind kept wandering back to the brutal ordeal he'd witnessed a few hours prior. He couldn't grasp it at all, it shook him to the core.

Brushing his teeth, he entered the kitchen to sort a pill organiser for his dad, his eyes briefly scanning over some features of his home.

He backtracked on a certain detail. His eyebrows furrowed in inspection as he observed the calendar on his fridge, a small glint of panic in his eyes. The fridge read:

¡CHURCH QUARTERLY ALL-NIGHT FRIDAY!

His demeanour remained stoic and steady, but his heart rate skyrocketed. The day was Friday. This couldn't have possibly been happening. That day, at the same time, he had a meeting with The 108, whom he was still navigating trying to avoid. This was all weighing down on him at the wrong time.

In the background, his father, Dominic, grunted after nearly falling while trying to arise. His legs were numb.

"Mi hijo,"

Santiago rushed to his aid, "Mis disculpas, Papá."

"No te preocupes, hijo mío," Dominic assured.

Helping his limp father to his bedroom, his eyes lingered back to the fridge. He bit his toothbrush with more force. Santiago's eyes quickly darted away as he put increased effort into the action.

-

The Sun'd risen completely. Now, an emotively insomnic Jaden LaRusso was lazily sunken in her messy bedsheets, scrolling through the Cobra Kai website on her laptop. The sign-up option drew her attention and lured her to click.

She was redirected to the Facebook page, which irritated her. She frantically frantically clicked 'escape'.
A pinging sound emanated from the laptop's speakers as she received a notification.

"New Notifications! - Click here to check another Meta platform for news," the push notification read. She groaned into her forearm, aggressively rubbing away her lingering migraine.

The LaRusso girl clicked the link with annoyed force. Bare, before her eyes, lay a post Yasmine had recently made about Aisha, where the girl was eating and had a pig filter on her face and a series of words displaying on the screen in spectacle.

Theyluvv.yas

[3 png. Attachments]
[1 Recording Attached]

Theyluvv.yas
Cheeto pig spotted at a Halloween Party 😂🐷

@robinsons_girl @Sam_the_Larusso @moonsfunny.ok?
↪

user3.14159
Whole comments section belongs in hell 😭

ky_the_g.o.a.t.
What even is that thing???

Cameron.York.not.diaz
One sec, lemme go throw the fuck up

js.better.than.u
Stop, she's literally so pretty (she's a fucking Cheeto Bandit)

off_tha_lot_2002
There's no way God would actually build someone this way 🫢💀

pi_aint_a_gotdamn_pie
Oooh so fugly 😍😍

Not.ur.fcking.mom.com
🤣🤣 (this isn't funny for shit)

-

It was now seven hours past midnight. Santiago was headed out the door after he had gotten completely ready and finished sorting Dominic's pills. "Nos vemos! Cuídate, que Dios te bendiga," wished them, exiting.

His eyes briefly scanned over the alley of some days prior as he quickened his pace to the subway station. His eyes were glossed over by the time he'd gotten underground and his heart rate was elevated.

The Velasquez boy blinked away the sensation and got onto the train, re-composing himself.

On his way into the metro, a buzz echoed through his back pocket.

"Meeting tonight @ Gidday," displayed his phone from the calendar app once he'd looked.

He rubbed his aching temples indecisively. It was like he couldn't go too many kilometres without hearing of The 108 again.

-

Jaden stomped through her home, headed straight for the door.

Anthony, who had watched Samantha storm out preceeding Jaden's dark mirroring of this, watched in puzzlement.

He furrowed his brows, pausing in eating whipped cream. "Okay, Sam was weird, but Jade is straight up bizarre."

Daniel, stalking her movements outside the door, ordered Anthony with barely even a glance, "Just finish your breakfast, Ant."

-

Following a seething drive to school, Jaden paid Counselor Moore a visit for a release.

"...It's like life doesn't know when to fucking stop. I don't even remember when last I slept well," she finished a confession restlessly, picking at her fingernails in the process.

Natasha nodded in understanding, "How have you been?"

Jaden's eyebrows furrowed in confusion, "I just told you."

"How have you been?"

Jaden squirmed at the probing question. "Un-fine. The past few days have been insufferable. My family doesn't talk to me, my friends are suffering, there's a-my-my own photos on my neck right now. I mean, I sent this fucking asshole my own nudes and he posted them," her eyes welled, her Roman nose contorting in self-loathe, "I technically can't even be upset. He did this because I allowed him. This just... proves I need to he more vigilant. I'll be fine soon."

"I'm sorry, J--"

"Don't be," Jaden corrected her quickly. Her words were a bit slurred.

"Okay, Ms. LaRusso. Well, how have your extracurriculars been?"

"I signed up for karate classes," Jaden answered. The woman quietly smiled.

"Uh-the assembly-that we had a few days ago," Jaden's voice wobbled, "Made me feel gross. And filthy. As staff, why did you let that happen?"

"Jaden... I couldn't have possibly done anything. I'm minor staff, that was to the higher-ups. I'm really sorry this happened, though. The meeting was unexpected, I can understand how you feel."

Jaden clenched her fists, "No, you don't! You are om the team that did this, by extension you knew. I'm fucking done with you guys."

Counselor Moore sighed, "Jade--"

The LaRusso girl left the office with a slam. The fluorescent lights flickered faintly as the Moore woman was left behind in the omen of Jaden's rage, which was descending into incandescence.

Jaden, now outside the office, was shaking in anger. She walked to her locker, snatching her books for the day and roughly swallowing three opioid pills to relax her nervous system.

Viewing Cameron York from across the hallway completely unraveled the thin bubble that remained of her composure.

"Cam!"

He turned around from his loud expression with Kyler to see her.

"Need somethin'?"

She abandoned her locker and belongings, storming up to him. Yasmine, Sam, and Moon, who were huddled in a group with them, blocked her.

"Hey, back up--", Sam interjected, to which Jaden laughed pathetically.

"Make me, 'darling'."

Sam's face contorted, but Jaden pushed past her with ease.

"You crazy asshole. Take the photos down," Jaden directly challenged Cameron, who just doubled down.

"It's my phone, I can do what I want with it," he retorted, looking down at her pitifully.

Jaden took yet a step closer, their faces daringly near one another's. "Take, them, down."

Cameron laughed at her in amusement. He looked to Kyler, Brucks, and a few more of his friends before looking back to her. "I think I have a few more pics I might post, actually."

Jaden, who's fists were already trembling irately, clenched her jaw with the tightness that'd shatter it.

Yasmine stepped forward, putting a hand in front of Jaden's abdomen. "Okay, get the hell away from us, whore."

Jaden's expression morphed as she violently smacked away Yasmine's hand. The force sent Yasmine flying into the crowd of West Valley High School students who had gathered around the commotion.

Jaden punched Cameron's locker repeatedly. Pain seared through her fists whilst the locker began to dent, but she ignored both the blood and the immediate consequences.

"What the fuck are you doing?!", Cameron queried in alarm.

Jaden ignored him, continuing to pound his locker with grunts escaping her. Blood splattered out of her fist, but she continued. Sam approached, extending a hand to the blonde LaRusso girl's shoulder, but she shoved Sam away from her.

Sam fell to the floor due to the sheer force. The bell had rang, but students remained watching in morbid allure.

Blood from Jaden's fist began dripping to the floor. She sent the locker one last punch with all of her might, letting out a blood-curdling cry in the process.

Her fist, shaking, sprawled the locker door open. She vengefully yanked out Cameron's phone.

She threw his phone onto the ground, the screen immediately shattering from the energy.

"WHAT THE FUCK?!", Cameron York exclaimed in vexation.

Sam jolted back at the smashed phone, tears welling in her widened eyes. She let out a low frequency, strangled whimper in shock and fear of her supposed sister.

She rubbed her bruised thigh and yelled at Jaden. "Jade! Stop, please!"

Santiago, Miguel, Eli, and Demetri watched in a mixture of horror and confusion, and Aisha in shock. Though, a distorted sense of justice settled a small amount in Aisha.

Jaden inched towards Cameron after stepping on next phone repeatedly. "Go ahead and publish them now," she bitterly glared up at him, spitting on the destroyed cell phone before walking straight to the bathroom. Cameron only death stared her retreating silhouette.

Yasmine only just got herself back, "That bitch.."

A few teachers had stepped out at the delay in attendance and noise right after Jaden's hectic exit. "What the heck is going on out here? Guys, get to class! Now!", one teacher ordered, taking some students out of their trance and making things begin cycling again. Others put away their recording phones and followed.

-

Lunch had arrived, and whispers and eyes latched onto her. Cameron had disappeared, Yasmine had bandages and murmured insults at her presence, Sam simply kept her head down.

Jaden took a seat at the lunch table she usually sat at, oblivious to the eyes on her.

Demetri side-eyed Eli, but Eli was already looking at Santiago. Demetri gave them a weird look. Santiago and Eli exchanged knowing glances, afraid of her volatile and erratic shifts in demeanour.

Aisha turned to her with distressed eyes. "Yasmine is such a bitch. I'm so tired. I'm tired of it all."

Jaden, poking at her caesar salad with the plastic fork given, was in a world of her own. Not talking, moving much, or hearing at all what Aisha was saying, or doing really anything.

"You won't believe this shitty little post she made. I hate her. Sometimes I just want to bash her fucking face in. And can you believe Sam told me this morning that, 'everyone will forget' because they have 'short memories'. What even on Earth? She has to be freaking kidding me."

Jaden rubbed at her drowsy eyes.

She waved a hand in Jaden's face. She looked up at her in bewilderment. "Hello? Are you gonna say anything?"

"What?", Jaden annoyingly shifted.

"You're not even listening..." Aisha sadly expressed to the blonde, making her give an imperceptible nod lethargically.

The tanned boy on the other side of the table, whose name they'd learned was Miguel, stared between the two curiously.

Jaden stabbed her salad, a slow, scornful gaze making its way to where Cameron and his company usually sat in the cafeteria. She didn't stop staring, only stabbing her salad occasionally.

-

Later during the day, around the evening, Jaden turned her vehicle into the familiar street, stopping it at a turn.

"You are now on... South Twenty-Third Street, Greater Los Angeles Area. You have arrived at your destination," the automated GPS voice finished the instructions.

She exited the car reluctantly. She scanned her environs. The area felt unsafe. Buildings were incomplete, there was mere scaffolding upholding some, they appeared blemished and weathered on the exteriors, and there were rain puddles in potholes on the roads. Graffiti was scattered on buildings, there were dark alleys that interconnected buildings, the metro entrance was littered and drawn over, and there were untamed dogs that hung in dark places, nearly lurking.

The faint sound of trap music played, making the surrounding overstimulating when coupled with the ever-so-faint, cool scent of rain and something else unable to be discerned.

Jaden quickened her pace, feeling eyes on her in the unfamiliar setting. A distant cat's growl inched nearer, making her flinch.

"They back off," a deep voice spoke. Jaden turned around rapidly, holding her illuminated phone screen to her chest.

The voice arose from Santiago, whom was standing in an alleyway alone.

She neared him, getting into the dark and damp passage. The narrow, wet aisle had a mixture of smoke and fog lingering in the air with rusty and oxidised pipes clinging to the walls. Some pipes were broken off and leaked water. Stairways sat on some sides, leading up to apartments.

Santiago sensed her fear. "They back off if you don't let them psych you out."

She tucked a strand of hair behind her ear, shivering in the cold. "Here. I'm running low, I should be getting more money soon."

He accepted the forty dollars she'd pulled out of a pocket, simultaneously handing her a minuscule Ziploc bag of twelve pills in discretion.

Jaden inhaled deeply, taking the bag and walking back to her car. She sped off. Santiago speedwalked back to his house, looking around cautiously.

A police cruiser on the sidelines remained still in surveillance.

-

Jaden stood in the staff room of the LaRusso Auto Dealership on Ventura. She'd eased her anxious system with pills some minutes prior.

Reading the schedule, she saw her name in an unexpected position with a bright red side note beside it.

JADEN-CAR REPARATION DUTY. **note: on order from Daniel

The subconsciously twitched a finger muscle, a wave of overwhelming shame washing over her.

She walked out of the room.

She was stopped by Daniel. "You—you're on car repairing duty for the next two weeks. Did you see it?"

Jaden shook her head with an unsettling energy radiating off of her. "Yeah, I did see the sign you put up bright for us all to see."

Daniel sighed, "That isn't why it's there, Jade."

"Don't call me that. I know you're doing this because of Cam and the photos," Jaden bluntly stated, making Daniel shake his head in profuse disgust.

"Instead of being sorry, you feel the need to act like you're in distress? How ridiculous is that, I mean we've done all this upbringing for you and you turn out like this?", Daniel scoffed.

Jaden responded with silence. She only clenched her fists tightly, her fingernails leaving bright red crescent marks on her palms, and turned on her heel to leave.

-

"Ella hace todo por seducirme
Y yo voy, voy, voy
Haciendo lo que ella me pide
Y yo voy, voy, voy
Porque fue la que siempre quise
Y yo voy, voy, voy
Si estoy con ella no es un crimen
Y yo voy, voy, voy"

Santiago, now back at home, was getting ready for the due quarterly all-night service.

"Ella hace todo por seducirme
Y yo voy, voy, voy
Haciendo lo que ella me pide
Y yo voy, voy, voy
Porque fue la que siempre quise
Y yo voy, voy, voy
Si estoy con ella no es un crimen
Y yo voy, voy, voy"

Playing faintly in the background was Yo Voy by Daddy Yankee and Zion Lennox. There was a small residential party being thrown one home away, and the music was accompanied by a few drinks and cigarettes. Sitting on a railing was Alvaro Dominguez.

"Que nadie me la vele
Para que esto no vuele
Eso ya tiene dueño
No hagan que yo me revele"

Items clanked and crashed off of their dining table. By the time Dominic was nearly on the floor, Santiago and his mother rushed to his aid.

"Ella nada le duele
Ella bien rico huele
Dame esa semilla
Para que el café se cuele"

"Ten cuidado, Mi Amor," Santiago's mother, Pilar, cautioned Dominic with a back rub.

"Que nadie me la vele
Para que esto no vuele
Eso ya tiene dueño
No hagan que yo me revele"

Letting out a chuckle as he grunted to get up, he spoke, "Si, Mi Querida."

"Ella nada le duele
Ella bien rico huele
Dame esa semilla
Para que el café se cuele"

Santiago snaked an arm around his dad's other shoulder, helping him out of the door and downstairs.

"Vamos, es la cosa
Vamo'a allá, vamo'a allá
Si él no te motiva
Voy pa' allá, voy pa' allá"

"Bien, vayamos a la iglesia," Pilar locked the door shut and escorted her husband to their car.

"No es un crimen
Darte hasta el suelo
Es que esta noche es
Hasta que se rompa el cuero"

The vehicle began moving.

"Motivando to'a la yal, to'a la yal
Presiento que la disco
Va a estallar, va a estallar
Sandungueando todos pa'l suelo
Es que esta noche es
Hasta que se rompa el cuero"

Santiago, sitting inside of the old Camry, pulled out his phone and clicked away at the screen.

"Ella hace todo por seducirme
Y yo voy, voy, voy
Haciendo lo que ella me pide
Y yo voy, voy, voy
Porque fue la que siempre quise
Y yo voy, voy, voy
Si estoy con ella no es un crimen
Y yo voy, voy, voy"

"No puedo ir a la reunión de Gidday. Problemas personales," Santiago's message to Alvaro read.

"Ella hace todo por seducirme
Y yo voy, voy, voy
Haciendo lo que ella me pide
Y yo voy, voy, voy
Porque fue la que siempre quise
Y yo voy, voy, voy
Si estoy con ella no es un crimen
Y yo voy, voy, voy"

Alvaro didn't respond. He remain seated, his eyes scanning over the message before they adhered onto Santiago from afar.

"Quién como ella cuando entra en calor
Ella me cura cuando estoy enfermo de amor
Miles probó, pero ningún en tu sabor
Me encanta tu color, bañada en sudor"

He stared deeply into the car as Pilar picked up the pace and the car sped off.

"Quién como ella cuando entra en calor
Ella me cura cuando estoy enfermo de amor
Miles probó, pero ningún en tu sabor
Me encanta tu color, bañada en sudor"